The Lumbini provincial government has not been able to make financial payments to the construction contractors of the Gaurav project. The government has not been able to make payments to the 'Capacite-Ashish-Religare' JV company, which is working on the 12-storey building of the Lumbini Provincial Hospital in Butwal. If the payment is not made within the contract agreement period, it is mentioned that the government will have to pay a penalty to the construction contractor by adding 3 percent to the base rate of the Nepal Rastra Bank.

The underground work of the 12-storey building, including two underground floors, has been completed. Currently, the upper third floor has been poured and the work on the fourth is in the final stage. Work on the remaining floors is also progressing at a rapid pace. More than 300 workers are still deployed daily for the construction of the building.

According to Chhabiraj Pokharel, Executive Director of the Provincial Infrastructure Development Authority, 37.21 percent physical and 27.33 percent physical progress of the project has been seen so far. The estimated cost of the project was 8.99 billion 6.4 million. A contract agreement was signed between the government and the construction company on December 26, 2080 for Rs 7.15 billion 9.473 billion to complete the construction of the building by December 25, 2085. The construction contractor has made 37 percent physical progress in 25 months of the contract.

According to the construction contract and the progress report, the government is expected to pay Rs 5.22 billion to the construction contractor. However, so far, the government has paid only Rs 3.40 billion. According to Shankar Subedi, the site in-charge engineer of the project, according to the progress report, the government was expected to pay Rs 1.20 billion in the first year. However, only Rs 60 million was paid. In the second year, the contractor submitted a bill of Rs 2.53 billion (including Rs 60 million from the previous year). Of that, only Rs 1.80 billion was paid.

While submitting a bill of Rs 2.22 billion in the current year, including the remaining payment from the previous year, only Rs 1 billion has been paid. About 2.55 billion rupees are yet to be paid. ‘In order to ensure continuous construction work, the government has to immediately pay only 1.3 billion rupees for the work done so far,’ he said. ‘At least 2.55 billion rupees will have to be managed for the next year.’ According to the agreement, if the construction company fails to pay within 56 days of submitting the bill, the government will have to pay a penalty of about 5 percent as interest. However, the bill submitted now has been overdue for 105 days and the government has to pay a penalty of 30 million rupees more to the businessmen.

In addition, the construction company has already unloaded construction materials worth more than 500 million rupees at the site. The agreement states that the government will also pay the import and export fees for the goods already unloaded at the site while the construction company is demanding the fine. 700 beds will be built in this hospital building. Similarly, a 100-bed cancer building is also being constructed at the same time. Once the construction of the cancer building is completed and the facilities are provided, the obligation of cancer patients from Narayani West to Mahendranagar and Kanchanpur to reach Bharatpur or Kathmandu will end. The emergency department of the hospital, which admits 3,000 patients daily, still treats up to 3 people in one bed. The

provincial hospital provides treatment facilities to patients from all districts of Lumbini Province including Gulmi, Palpa, Arghakhanchi, Pyuthan, Dang, Kapilvastu, Syangja, Baglung in Gandaki Province, and Kailali from Kanchanpur to Mahendranagar in Karnali Province. Currently, patients cannot be admitted and treated easily. Hospital Development Committee Chairman Ajayman Shrestha said that once the building is completed, 1,200 patients will be admitted and treated easily every day.

Provincial Health Minister Khem Bahadur Saru said that the work of building construction is satisfactory and the government is making efforts to ensure that the current pace of its construction does not stop. 'The work is going on at a rapid pace, the government has not been able to pay the budget according to the pace of work,' he said, 'The amount of 800 million allocated for the current fiscal year has been paid and efforts are underway to pay the additional amount.' He said that an adequate budget will be managed next year. The oldest provincial hospital in the province has been providing services for 115 years. After the pressure of patients in the hospital has increased in recent years, the provincial government has started upgrading it by naming it Gaurav Project.

The new building is spread over an area of ​​7,700 square meters. There will be 700 beds in the main building and 100 beds in a separate four-story cancer building. Construction entrepreneur Sher Bahadur KC said that if at least 550 million of the amount billed in the current fiscal year is not paid, it will not be possible to work in the next fiscal year.

‘We have completed work worth nearly Rs 5 billion, including the materials we have brought to the construction site, but only Rs 3 billion has been paid,’ he said. ‘We cannot work unless we have allocated at least Rs 550 million for the current fiscal year and Rs 2 billion more for the next year.’