The government has given source consent to projects of national pride and strategic importance to enter into new contracts in the current fiscal year. The consent has been given to enter into new contracts for such projects that have not been completed even after construction has begun for a long time. Most of the projects that have received source consent are road and irrigation projects of pride. According to the Road Department, the Postal Highway of national pride has been given source consent of Rs 29.71 billion for the current year. 

With the source consent, new contracts will be entered into everywhere except the Chitwan National Park area, said Kuber Nepali, Project Director of the Postal Highway Directorate. ‘We will enter into new contracts everywhere in the current year,’ he said. ‘The contract will be entered into only after the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is completed in the Chitwan section and the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is finalized.’ He said that the target is to complete the entire project by 2087 BS. 

With this amount, contracts will have to be entered into to construct and blacktop 150 kilometers of roads, including 69 bridges, 10 culverts and 7 road sections, in the current fiscal year. A resource agreement of Rs 3.15 billion has been given for the Beni-Jomsom-Korla section under the Kaligandaki Corridor. Rs 968 million has been provided for the construction of 5 bridges under this section. A resource agreement of Rs 519.9 million has been given for the 6.2 km of Timurpata-Huti-Dhaulakot road section under the Mahakali Corridor. 

The Ministry of Finance has agreed to award a new contract worth Rs 3.15 billion 16 million for the Khulalu-Kot, Bhukkakhola-Piluchaur and Tumcha-Sallisalla sections under the Karnali Corridor. A resource of Rs 624.3 million has been ensured for the construction of 6 bridges under the Khulalu-Sallisalla road project. The process of awarding contracts has been moved forward as Rs 2.337 billion has been fixed for the Hilsa-Simkot road project from Kharpunath to Kharikhet and from Kharikhet to Sallisalla in the northern section of the Karnali Corridor. 

A resource of Rs 694.9 million has been secured for the construction of 10 bridges under the Koshi Corridor. A resource agreement of Rs 2.434 billion has been given for the Khandbari-Kimathanka Dobhan-Barun road section under the same corridor. A resource agreement of Rs 1.591 billion has been received for the Kimathanka-Ghongghoppa section of the said corridor. The Ministry of Finance has given a resource agreement of Rs 1.20 billion for the construction and upgrading of the road from Chatara-Moolghat-Suwang Khola under the Tamor Corridor. 

A source agreement of Rs 520 million has been given for the Suwangkhola-Dobhan-Olangchungola section under the Tamor Corridor. With the source agreement, a new contract will be awarded for the blacktop work in the lower section of the Karnali Corridor, Khulalu-Sallisalla, said Dharmendra Kumar Jha, Project Director of the North-South Trade Route Expansion Project Directorate. ‘We have received the source agreement, now we will award the contract for road blacktop, upgrading and bridge construction,’ he said, ‘The upgrading work will be carried out in a way that the road project will be operational within 12 months.’ 

A source agreement has been given for three road sections under the Madan Bhandari Highway. The Road Department has stated that a source agreement of Rs 1.41 billion has been received for the Ridi-Bheduwa-Tamghas section of the highway in Gulmi. A consensus of Rs 2.1665 billion has been given for the Ridi-Balkot-Hanspur-Pyuthan-Surkhet section of the same highway. The Ministry of Finance has given a resource consent worth Rs 2.2592 billion for the 16.52 km of the Baddichaur-Gutu-Karnali road section. The contract for 6 bridges will have to be awarded within the said resource. 

Deep Barahi, Director of the Madan Bhandari Highway Project Directorate, said that a new contract will be awarded by Ashar as per the received resource consent. ‘The contract must be awarded by Ashar, otherwise the resource consent will be invalid,’ he said, ‘The work will start within the next fiscal year after the new contract is awarded within the current fiscal year.’ According to him, after the contract process is completed, a resource consent will be proposed for another road in the next fiscal year. 

Finance has provided a resource consent worth Rs 1.10 billion to the Project Office under the national pride Pushpalal (Mid-Hill) Highway to construct 8 concrete bridges. Meanwhile, a resource consent worth Rs 1.505 billion has been provided for the construction of a railway trackbed at Bardibas Railway Station under the East-West Electric Railway.

Irrigation projects of national pride have also received resource consent. Senior Divisional Engineer of the Water Resources and Irrigation Department, Premhari Parajuli, said that the process for new contracts will be initiated as soon as the projects receive resource consent. 

‘The cost estimates of most of the projects have been prepared, but contracting was stopped due to lack of resource consent,’ Parajuli said, ‘There is a provision that the resource consent will be invalidated if the contract is not awarded by Asar. Therefore, some projects have submitted documents with cost estimates to the department to award the contract, and some are preparing to do so.’