After the Gen-G movement, Kulman Ghising took over as the Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development, and 57 contracts worth Rs 16.20 billion 6.1 million, which had not progressed for a long time, have been terminated. The largest number of these contracts are under the Road Department, with 35 contracts. The amount of these contracts is only Rs 2.97 billion 7.9 million.

19 contracts have been terminated under the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation. The largest contract under this is the construction of a dam on the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project of national pride. Its contract amount is 14.759 billion rupees.

Overall, 19 contracts worth 14.1448 billion rupees have been terminated under irrigation, said Mitra Baral, Director General of the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation. 'Contracts that have not made progress despite being given opportunities to work repeatedly have been terminated,' he said. 'Preparations and discussions are also underway to enter into new contracts for the terminated contracts.'

6 packages of contracts have been terminated under the Babai Irrigation Project of national pride. Its contract amount is 17.5 million rupees. The department has stated that 12 contracts worth 51.3 million rupees have been terminated under the Irrigation and Water Resources Management Project, Janakpurdham Dhanusha. Out of 42 contracts under the Urban Development and Building Construction Department, the process of terminating 37 has been initiated.

Of which, 3 contracts have been terminated for the construction of health buildings, said Rabindra Bohara, Director General of the department. The contracts were terminated after the construction of the maternity ward building in Jajarkot, the Guthu health post building in Surkhet, and the Majkot Badkule health post building in Jajarkot was not completed. The contract amount for the construction of the three buildings is Rs 32.5 million.

‘The process of terminating has not been initiated because some construction entrepreneurs have started work after issuing notices for projects under the department that have not been worked on for a long time,’ Bohara said. ‘Out of 24 sick projects under the urban development department, 3 have been terminated.’ He said that preparations are being made to issue notices explaining why the contracts of 5 sick projects under the department should not be terminated. 

The highest number of sick contracts are under the Roads Department. The number of such contracts is 235. The department said that 35 contracts have been terminated. The Division Road Office Kathmandu has the highest number of 57 sick projects, and 25 contracts have been terminated so far.

Senior Divisional Engineer of the Road Department, Manish Sah, said that out of the total sick projects, 8 are in the process of receiving the contract money. He said that the number of contracts received with the money is only 227. He informed that the amount of sick contracts received is 18.33 billion rupees. The process of terminating the contracts was taken forward after there was no progress and the work was not completed despite giving several opportunities, said Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Road Department, Shyam Bahadur Khadka.

'Contracts that have not been completed due to the construction business should not be kept lying around, the project should be completed and the general public should get service on time,' he said. Spokesperson Khadka said that various conditions were placed between the two parties when making the purchase agreement and whether the contracting body complied with the conditions or not, and the process of terminating the contract will be taken forward after a complete study, according to which the contract will be taken forward.

‘If the construction entrepreneur is dissatisfied and feels that injustice has been done, they can go to court,’ said Khadka. After terminating the contract, the source of the new work must be ensured. ‘If it is something that can be completed in a single fiscal year with a small budget, we will immediately proceed with the procurement process if there is a budget,’ he said, ‘If the budget is more, we will proceed with a multi-year contract.’

After accepting the work done as per the initial contract, contracts are called only for the new work that remains to be done. According to Sub-section (8) of Section 59 of the Public Procurement Act, if the construction entrepreneur violates the rules, the budget required to complete the remaining work by terminating the contract is recovered from the construction entrepreneur, he said. Although this is in the law, it is not implemented in practice, according to a department source. It is stated that the department is working towards completing the terminated contracts as well as the procurement process will be carried out after looking at the status of the contract.

Construction entrepreneurs have been complaining that they are facing problems after terminating the contract. Roshan Dahal, general secretary of the Federation of Nepal Construction Entrepreneurs, said that the penalties for breaking the contract are complex.

‘There is a strict provision in Sub-section (8) of Section 59 of the Procurement Act, if the contract is broken and work is left unfinished, it is said that the amount required to do all the work will be recovered from the construction entrepreneur who took the contract,’ he said, ‘In such a situation, where will the construction entrepreneur go? The bank guarantee is confiscated, the performance is also confiscated. They are put on the blacklist.’

He complained that a construction company that has been established for twenty years will reach zero after being blacklisted for three years. How did the contract become unhealthy? Was the necessary budget allocated for it or not? Was the work site given or not, and was the compensation cleared or not? Dahal said that action should be taken against the contracting body regardless of this.

‘After the contract was awarded, the budget and payment had to be regular, the Kathmandu Division has broken 25 contracts, in which the construction entrepreneurs had repeatedly demanded to provide the site in writing, but the site was not provided,’ he said, ‘Where there are contracts from 2067 BS, how many heads have changed in that office during this period, was their responsibility within this contract/was it not, without fulfilling their responsibilities, all the responsibility has been imposed on the shoulders of the construction entrepreneurs.’

Saying that both the contractor and the contractor should be made equal partners in punishment, Dahal said that if the construction entrepreneur made a mistake, he should be punished for it.

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‘Contracts are also sick because of the employees’

Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Urban Development and Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Kulman Ghising has said that the contracts are also sick because of the employees.

At a dialogue program with stakeholders on ‘Sick Contract Management’ organized by the Nepal Infrastructure Journalists Society in collaboration with the Federation of Nepali Construction Entrepreneurs on Tuesday, he said that no action has been taken against contracts that have become sick due to employees and that necessary investigation will be conducted.