The Road Division Offices of Biratnagar, Chandranigahapur and the Directorate have issued a public notice on Friday asking why not terminate 17 contracts, 5 each and 2 in Nuwakot.
What you should know
The government has begun the process of terminating sick road contracts. The process of terminating sick contracts that have been lying idle for years without any work has begun.
The Postal Road Directorate under the Road Department, the Federal Road Supervision and Monitoring Office Kathmandu and the Road Division Office under Itahari have taken forward the process of terminating 17 contracts that are in a sick state.
The Road Division Offices of Biratnagar, Chandranigahapur and the Directorate have issued a public notice on Friday asking why not terminate 17 contracts, 5 each and Nuwakot 2. Most of the contracts for which the process of terminating the contract has been extended are for bridge construction.
Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Physical Infrastructure and Transport and Urban Development Kulman Ghising had directed the subordinate bodies to terminate the sick contracts to end the trend of taking contracts but not working on them and leaving projects stranded. 258 contracts under the road are sick.
The Kankai Bridge in Jhapa is the largest among the contracts being terminated. The process of terminating the contract of the approximately 723-meter-long Kankai Bridge connecting Jhapa Rural Municipality-2 and Gauriganj Rural Municipality-1, which has been abandoned for 14 years under the Postal Highways Directorate, has moved forward.
A contract agreement was signed with Pappu Mahadev Khimti Joint Venture (JV) in the fiscal year 2067/68 for the construction of a concrete bridge in the design and build format. The physical and financial progress of the bridge construction in 14 years is only about 55 percent. Minister Ghising had told the local residents on 26 Asoj that a decision would be made soon on the construction of the bridge.
It has been mentioned that in all the projects for which the contract is being terminated, the contract and plan have been extended repeatedly and the construction work has been left incomplete and abandoned, with the construction entrepreneur not showing any interest in completing the construction work even within the specified period.
It is stated that the construction contractor has violated the contract agreement by not showing any interest in completing the construction work even after requesting and informing in writing and verbally on various dates.
A public call has been made to appear at the official office with a revised work schedule that can be completed within 15 days of the publication of the notice, a reliable plan for resource mobilization, a commitment to complete the work, and an explanation with factual evidence if there is any reasonable reason not to break the contract.
