The contract for the construction of the building and the interior is valid until December 16, and government officials say that there is no need to look for alternatives as the building will be ready before the House of Representatives elections on February 21.
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It seems certain that the meeting of the people's representatives elected in the upcoming House of Representatives elections will no longer be held at the Birendra International Conference Center in New Baneshwor. The government has not renewed the rental agreement with the center after protesters vandalized and set fire to it on 24 Bhadra. The parliament building is under construction in the Singha Durbar complex, but doubts have not been dispelled about whether it will be ready by the time of the House of Representatives elections.
The contract was awarded on 16 Asho 2076 with the aim of completing the construction of the parliament building in the Singha Durbar complex by 16 Asho 2079. The deadline, which was extended for the fifth time after the construction was not completed, is also ending on 16 Push. With one and a half months left, the progress of the building construction is 87 percent.
Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Federal Parliament Secretariat Ekram Giri says that the new building is expected to be completed by 16 Pus. ‘The House of Representatives elections are on 21 Falgun. Since the building will be ready before then, there is no need to look for an alternative,’ he says.
The new building is being prepared in such a way that the 275-member House of Representatives and the 59-member National Assembly can be held in separate halls. According to Spokesperson Giri, preparations are underway to hold the National Assembly meeting in the Agriculture Committee hall inside Singha Durbar. But work has not started for that. He also informed that a special building construction project is being sought through the Ministry of Urban Development to complete the construction of the building quickly. ‘We are taking details of the progress of the construction, and we are also holding formal meetings with the concerned bodies from time to time to expedite the work,’ he said, ‘but the construction does not seem to be progressing as expected.’
Secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development Gopal Sigdel claims that the main work will be completed within the extended time and the building will be ready by the time the new parliament comes. ‘Construction and interior work is currently underway, there is no major problem in the work,’ he said, ‘The materials used in the building are being brought from India and installed. The building will be built by the time the new parliament comes.’ Sunil Thakur, head of the Special Building Construction Project, says that the progress in the construction has been satisfactory recently.
Immediately after becoming the Minister of Energy, Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development, Kulman Ghisingh had drawn the attention of the concerned bodies to complete the work within the stipulated time. Earlier, the President, Prime Minister, Speaker, National Assembly Speaker, and others had inspected and monitored the under-construction parliament building and given instructions to complete the work quickly. Parliamentary committees have also been monitoring and urging the construction from time to time.
The contract for the construction of the Parliament building has been awarded to Tundi-Sec JV. Its contract amount is 5.67 billion rupees. Its construction began after the 2079 BS House of Representatives elections with the aim of holding the Parliament session in the new building. After the work was not completed as per the agreement of 16 Asho 2076, the deadline was extended for the first time until 30 Chaitra 2079. The second time, the deadline was extended until 19 Asho 2080, the third time until 19 Chaitra 2080. The deadline was extended again after the work was not completed even by 18 Chaitra 2081.
The Parliament building is being constructed on an area of 156 ropanis in the Singha Durbar complex, where high-rise buildings up to five floors have been built. The House of Representatives, the National Assembly Building, the Central Lobby, the Office Building of Very Distinguished Persons, a library and a museum are being prepared there. The parliamentary party office building, parliamentary committee building, parliament secretariat building, chamena grha, press and printing building have been constructed separately. A building for parking 476 four-wheelers and 800 two-wheelers and housing security personnel has been constructed.
A separate contract for ‘interior’ has been taken by KC-Shyamsundar-Baniya JV for Rs 2.3454 billion. The agreement was signed on 17 Ashad 2080 to complete the work by Ashad 2081. Later, the time was extended to 16 Chaitra 2081, but after the work was not completed, the deadline has been extended again to 16 Pus. Only 25.58 percent of it is complete. According to the contract, ‘interior’ work will have to be done in the central lobby of the National Assembly and the VIP block, ‘conferencing system’ work. Furniture and furnishing in all blocks, security systems will be installed in the building premises, including the entrance.
The government did not provide the ‘site’ on time in the initial days and the decision-making process was delayed by the government agency, says Suman Subedi, Managing Director of Tundi Construction. ‘Decisions that should have been made before the deadline were made only after the deadline was extended, but there is a delay. It has been taking more than 6 months for the government agency to decide on any matter,’ he says. ‘The construction business cannot be blamed for the delay in the work. We will do whatever the contracting agency tells us to do.’ He claims that if there are no problems in the work, 95 percent of the work will be completed by Poush and the building will be ready by the time the new parliament is convened.
Giri, spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat, says that alternative arrangements will be made if the building is not ready even when the House of Representatives is formed. Earlier, the parliament meeting was held at the International Conference Center. This building, which is under the Ministry of Urban Development, has been supervised and operated by the Special Structure Operation and Management Development Committee. ‘We have been renewing the agreement every fiscal year,’ said Spokesperson Giri. ‘We were preparing to renew it in the current fiscal year as well. But we canceled the agreement after the damage.’
The Parliament Secretariat was initially paying an annual rent of Rs 70 million as per the agreement. Recently, the annual rent was Rs 170 million. ‘The rent was increasing every year,’ said Spokesperson Giri, ‘The Law Commission and the Investment Board were also contributing some of it.’ Mohdatta Bhatta, Assistant Spokesperson of the Ministry of Urban Development, said that the rent paid by the Parliament to the committee is deposited in the fund under the committee itself.
