According to the date announced by the government, there are 111 days left until the election to the House of Representatives. However, the building that will house the newly elected parliament is not yet ready.

The Birendra International Conference Center in New Baneshwor, which has been rented since 2064 BS, has been destroyed by arson and vandalism during the Gen-G movement. There is no possibility of immediate renovation and restoration. Will there be a place for MPs to live if the elections are held on time? Ekram Giri, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Federal Parliament Secretariat, said, “We have received information that the new building will be built by December 16.”

The construction work of the Parliament building within the Singha Durbar complex is currently in the final stages. Joint Secretary and Spokesperson Giri said that since the elections will be held on February 21 and the building will be ready by December 16, meetings can be held in the new building, so there is no need to think about alternatives. The new building has been built so that 334 people, including 275 members of the House of Representatives and 59 members of the National Assembly, can sit in separate halls and hold meetings.

Joint Secretary and Spokesperson Giri said that preparations are underway to use the Agriculture Committee hall inside Singha Durbar, but work has not yet begun for that. He said, "In the case of the House of Representatives, the building is expected to be completed before the elections on Falgun 21. Once the new one is built, the National Assembly will also be held there."

He said that he is currently requesting a special building construction project 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 from time to time, we are also holding formal meetings in the presence of the concerned bodies to expedite the work," he said, "but the construction does not seem to have progressed as expected." He said that there will be three months until the formation of the House of Representatives and alternative arrangements will be made if the building is not ready by that time.

After the vandalism and arson of the International Conference Center building, the Federal Parliament Secretariat has not renewed the rental agreement. The conference center building has been maintained and operated through the Special Structure Operation and Management Development Committee under the Ministry of Urban Development. Spokesperson Giri said, "We have been renewing the agreement every fiscal year, and we were preparing to renew it in the current fiscal year as well. But we also canceled the agreement after the damage." The Parliament Secretariat was initially paying Rs 70 million in rent annually as per the agreement. Recently, the annual rent was Rs 170 million. ‘The rent was increasing every year,’ he said, ‘and the Law Commission and the Investment Board were also bearing some share in this.’ Mohdatta Bhatta, assistant spokesperson for the Ministry of Urban Development, said that the rent paid by the Parliament to the committee was being collected in the fund under the committee itself. He said, ‘Work is being done to accommodate the new Parliament meeting in the new building.’ How much work has been completed?

Even though the deadline for the construction of the new Parliament building has been extended five times, the construction progress is only 87 percent. Gopal Sigdel, Secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development, claimed that the main work will be completed within the extended time and the building will be completely 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, and the building will be built by the time the new parliament is set to sit.’

After the work was not completed even after the fourth extension of time till Chaitra 18, 2081, the deadline has been extended to the next Poush 16. Immediately after becoming the Minister of Energy, Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development, Kulman Ghising had drawn the attention of the concerned bodies to complete the work within the stipulated time and work so that the next parliament meeting, which will be elected, can be held in the new building.

Sunil Thakur, head of the Special Building Construction Project, said that work is currently underway and that progress is being made in the construction. ‘Work including roads and firefighting is being done around the building,’ he said, ‘The work of false ceilings and furniture is being done under the second phase contract.’ He said that the work is being completed within the extended time.

Despite the fact that responsible persons from the President to the Speaker, the Chairman of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister and others have inspected and monitored the under-construction Parliament Building from time to time and given instructions, the work has not yet gained momentum. Although various parliamentary committees have also monitored and given instructions to complete the work quickly, it has not been implemented. The Parliament Building is being constructed on an area of ​​156 ropanis in the Singha Durbar premises. High-rise buildings up to five floors have been built.

But the work outside and inside the building has not been completed. The contract for the construction of the building has been taken by Tundi-Sec JV. The contract amount is 5.67 billion 27 million rupees. Its construction was started with the aim of holding the first Parliament meeting in the new building after the 2079 BS elections. The contract was signed on 2076 BS with the intention of completing the construction by 2079 BS. After the work was not completed according to the initial agreement, the deadline was extended for the first time until 2079 BS, but when the work was not completed, the time was given for the second time from 2080 BS to 2080 BS. Even though the work was not completed, the deadline was extended for the third time from October 20, 2080 to March 19 of the same year, but no significant progress was made in the construction.

After the work was not completed during this period, the deadline was extended for the fourth time to March 18, 2081, but the time was extended again because the work was not completed. The deadline has been extended to December 16, 2082, saying that the winter session of the parliament will be held in a new building. The Singha Durbar complex will also house the House of Representatives, the National Assembly Building, the Central Lobby, the Office Building of the Very Distinguished Persons, a library and a museum.

The parliamentary party office building, the parliamentary committee building, two buildings of the parliament secretariat, a tea house, a press and a printing house have been built separately. 476 four-wheeler and 800 two-wheeler parking lots and a building for security personnel have been constructed. Meanwhile, KC-Shyamsundar-Bania JV has taken a separate contract for the interior for Rs 2.34 billion 5.4 million. This work has not been completed yet. The contract was signed on 17 Ashad 2080 to complete the work by 2081 Ashad. Later, the time was extended to 16 Chaitra 2081, but after the work was not completed, the deadline has been extended again to 16 Poush, and the progress is only 25.58 percent.

According to this contract, the work of the central lobby of the National Assembly, the interior of the VIP block, and the conferencing system will have to be done. Similarly, the work of installing furniture and furnishing in all the blocks, entrance doors, and security systems in the building premises will be done. Construction entrepreneurs say that the construction was delayed because the government did not provide the site on time in the initial days and the government agencies delayed the decisions to be made.

Suman Subedi, Managing Director of Tundi Construction, said that the work was delayed due to the government agencies delaying the decisions to be made quickly. ‘The roofing work of the central lobby of the top is not included in our contract,’ he said, ‘This small work has also been contracted out to others, the work which has just started, will take 15-20 days to complete, after which we can do the work below.’