The Ministry of Finance has implemented the multi-year project resource consent criteria-2082, but it has not been implemented. This has increased the risk of pushing the construction of projects of national pride and strategic importance back by a year. According to the criteria implemented on December 13, the concerned body had to submit the proposal for resource consent to the National Planning Commission by mid-December. 

Once the proposal for consent is submitted, the National Planning Commission is to complete the process by January 15 and send it to the Ministry of Finance, and the ministry has to decide whether to give consent by January 15. However, no decision has been taken on this so far, which has created a situation where new contracts cannot be awarded for national pride projects in the current fiscal year, according to the concerned project office. 

Director of the North-South Trade Route Expansion Project Directorate, Dharmendra Jha, said that there is confusion as no decision has been taken yet despite sending the proposal for resource consent. ‘No new contract has been awarded, even though it is called a national pride project, it has not been included in the government’s priorities,’ he said, ‘The decision on the source agreement has been stuck at the National Planning Commission.’ Without source agreement, there will be no new contract on the Koshi, Kaligandaki and Karnali corridor roads along the North-South Highway.

‘If source agreement was obtained, a new contract could have been awarded, and work would have been done in the current fiscal year,’ Jha said, ‘Since there is no agreement so far, it is difficult to work according to the target. There is no option but to work only on the current contract.’ He said that new work will not start until the contract is awarded. ‘If a decision had been made quickly, this would not have happened,’ he said, ‘There is a risk that the project work will be affected if a decision is not made in time.’ 

The total distance of the Koshi Corridor, which was started in 2065/66, is 162 km. Its construction has been started from Basantapur in Tehrathum to connect Kimathanka, the northern border. The project was scheduled to be completed in 2080/81. After the work was not completed within that time, the time has been extended to 2085/86. The progress is only 46 percent. Its initial cost estimate was 11.93 billion rupees, but it has been revised to 16.20 billion rupees. So far, 6.85 billion rupees have been spent. 

The work on the Kaligandaki Corridor, which is Gaurav's own project, is not yet complete. It connects Gaindakot in Nawalparasi to Maldhunga Beni-Jomsom-Korla in Parbat. Its total distance is 495 km. Of which, the target is to pave 87 km of gravel and 408 km of blacktop. 85 bridges will have to be constructed. The construction of the entire project began in the fiscal year 2066/67. So far, the distance of gravel roads is 87 km and the distance of blacktop roads is 328 km. Contract management for 40.42 km of blacktop roads and 22 bridges is yet to be completed. The construction progress is 82.05 percent. 

The construction of the Karnali Corridor began in 2065/66. So far, the overall progress is 20.5 percent. When the project was started, it was said to be completed by 2070. Later, the time was extended to 2079/80. Now, the target is again set for completion in 2084/85. The initial cost estimate of this road was 4.1 billion rupees, which has been revised to 18.66 billion rupees. 

It has been 18 years since the construction of the Mid-Hill Highway, which is a national pride, began. The work has not been completed yet. The construction progress is 84.69 percent. Out of the 1,879 km of roads to be constructed under the Mid-Hill Highway Project, 462 km has been constructed under other projects and divisions. 1,67.6 km of roads have been blacktopped under the Mid-Hill Project. The construction of 114 bridges has been completed. 

The initial cost estimate of the project was 33.36 billion rupees, but it has been revised to 84.33 billion rupees. So far, 71.91 billion rupees have been spent. It is estimated that 10 million people will benefit after the project is completed. No source agreement has been received for this highway in the current fiscal year. Buddharatna Tuladhar, Project Director of the Mid-Hill Highway Project Directorate, said that despite sending the National Planning Commission for source agreement, there has been a problem in signing new contracts in some places as the agreement has not been received. 

Deep Barahi, Director of the Madan Bhandari Highway Project Directorate, said that no new contracts have been signed this year due to the lack of multi-year source agreement. He said that work is being done only where contracts were signed in the last fiscal year. ‘So far, no new contracts have been signed,’ he said, ‘The main problem with working is the budget.’ There is currently a liability of 14 billion rupees. He said that only 2.5 billion rupees have been allocated in the current fiscal year. 

According to the multi-year standard, the source agreement was sent at the same time, but it has not come yet, said Kuber Nepali, Director of the Postal Highways Directorate. ‘The highway is in the process of being completed, the source agreement has not come yet this year,’ he said, ‘Even when Chait started, a new contract could not be awarded because the agreement was not received, the project was postponed for another year.’ The biggest problem now is the road infrastructure of national pride. 

Shyam Bahadur Khadka, Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Roads Department, said that if the source agreement is obtained this fiscal year and the work is carried out, the construction work can start in the next fiscal year. ‘If the source agreement is not received in the current fiscal year, time will have to be spent on the contract process again in the new fiscal year. The process should be started from the beginning to obtain the source agreement,’ he said, ‘It takes time to complete the project on time, there are many projects of Gaurav that have been sent for source agreement.’ 

Gaurav’s projects have been affected due to lack of timely decisions. Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance, Tanka Prasad Pandey, said that the ministry is in favor of creating an environment for quick and easy construction work by keeping projects of national pride and strategic importance in multi-year terms. “The National Planning Commission has not yet received a multi-year resource agreement,” he said. “Proud projects should not be allowed to have problems. Therefore, it is not said that multi-year resource agreement will not be given to projects that have reached the process.” 

Although the issue of multi-year resource agreement should have been completed by Kartik-Mansir, it could not be done, said National Planning Commission Vice Chairman Prakash Kumar Shrestha. “However, the multi-year criteria were asked to submit the projects by 30 Poush, since the election code of conduct started from 4 Magh, the code of conduct also applied to this,” he said. “Even after the code of conduct was opened, the criteria required the commission to send funds by 15 Magh and the finance department to decide by the end of Magh. It was difficult for us to send them because the time was up.” He said that the work of entering projects that have completed the necessary procedures in the project bank is underway.