In Nepal, both the start and completion dates of project construction are not fixed. When starting the contract process for a project, the Procurement Act and its regulations have to be followed, which has made the contract process itself lengthy. Even after the contract is awarded, construction entrepreneurs have to face various obstacles to start construction work. Although there is a provision to award the contract after ‘site clearance’, construction entrepreneurs are not able to start work immediately as it is not implemented in practice.

On the other hand, due to government rules, bureaucratic tendencies, and the weaknesses of the construction entrepreneurs themselves, the construction work of the project is not completed on time. The project remains under construction for years. In such a situation, citizens cannot get the benefits they deserve from the project. Therefore, there are voices that say that practical laws are indispensable to ensure that the project starts and is completed on time. The newly formed government has realized the problem and has expressed its commitment to amend the Public Procurement Act. Now the government should bring practical laws.

The 100 agenda items related to governance reforms approved by the Cabinet meeting have been asked to amend the Public Procurement Act within 30 days to address delays, cost increases, substandard work and corruption in the public procurement process and implement concepts such as value for money, life cycle costing, e-governance marketplace and performance-based contracts. In addition, it has been said that the procurement process will be made completely digital, transparent and trackable and competition will be encouraged. First, the government has identified a major problem and has shown a haste to solve it. Second, this government plan has tried to take the legal path of changing the law rather than a direct order from the executive to solve problems in any sector. This will strengthen the rule of law and ensure the desired change.

The common citizen can also feel the delay in the contracting process and construction. Apart from that, there is also a problem from project selection to the payment process. The project selection has not been strategic. There is also no practice of evaluating its immediate and long-term benefits and confirming its public justification. Due to which there is criticism about the budget allocated for some projects. On the other hand, the payment process has been made more complicated. Even for the work of Chait-Baishakh, one has to wait until Asar to get paid. Construction entrepreneurs who have completed the work are discouraged when they have to face the hassle of getting paid.

On the other hand, capital expenditure seems low if payment is not made as soon as the work is completed. Therefore, a system of paying as soon as the work is completed will have to be established. The government is going to implement a 'data-based end-to-end e-procurement monitoring' system within 90 days to solve the problems of irregularities, misuse of variation orders and delays due to lack of tracking at various stages from project selection to payment. This can bring about great improvement.

There have been complaints that some sections of the Procurement Act, 2063, which is currently in force, are not practical. For example, in Sub-section 8 of Section 59 of the Act, it is mentioned that if the contract agreement is terminated, the entire security deposit kept by the construction entrepreneur for that work will be forfeited and whatever amount is required to complete the remaining work after the contract is terminated, that amount will be recovered from the bidder who does not perform the work as per the contract, like the government dues. This provision should be implemented in the case of terminated contracts as well. However, since those provisions are impractical, they have not been implemented.

Construction entrepreneurs are a major aspect of construction work, but the provisions and mentality that are more restrictive are more dominant. They are not without their weaknesses, but if they are disciplined based on practical rules, positive results can come. The provision to award contracts at the lowest price shows the thriftiness of the state. But it has also caused additional problems. In places where there is no strong monitoring system like ours, the quality of the project is not ensured. Similarly, construction entrepreneurs also do not prioritize completing the contract quickly. This will also prolong the construction period of the project and compromise on quality may be necessary. Therefore, it is imperative to make all aspects of construction work practical. The government should pay attention to all these aspects while amending the act, so that the trend of avoiding the current impractical laws can be ended.

The haste of a strong government is commendable. But the law and parliamentary values ​​should also be addressed equally. Therefore, the legal reform desired by the government should be completed through the parliamentary process. Even though the government has said that it will amend the Procurement Act within 30 days, the meeting of the House of Representatives has not even begun. A parliamentary committee has not even been formed. However, it may take a long time to register the bill, discuss it in the committee, pass it through the House of Representatives, complete the procedures of the National Assembly, and be certified by the President.