There are only 24 days left for the House of Representatives elections. It is not yet certain that the building, which will house the meetings of the elected representatives, will be ready by then. The fifth extension of the deadline for the construction of the building expired on December 16, and the progress is only 90 percent. Preparations are underway to extend the deadline for the agreement again.

90 percent progress in building construction, 50 percent in 'interior' and 25 percent in 'roofing' The rental agreement with the Birendra International Conference Center in New Baneshwor, where the parliament was previously held, has expired. The Parliament Secretariat did not renew the agreement with the center after protesters vandalized and set fire to it on August 24. No alternative has been sought, believing that the parliament building will be ready in the Singha Durbar complex. However, both the Ministry of Urban Development and the Federal Parliament Secretariat do not seem confident that the building will be ready by the time the new House of Representatives is formed.

Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Federal Parliament Secretariat Ekram Giri says that regular discussions are underway with the Ministry of Urban Development to complete the work so that the parliament meeting can be held in the new building. ‘We are also discussing this with the relevant minister. The minister has assured us that the House of Representatives will be held in the new building,’ he says. ‘We are not looking for an alternative.’

According to Giri, the ministry has assured that the construction of six buildings will be completed and the assembly will be handed over in the first week of Chaitra. ‘If that happens, the assembly will be held with minimum services.’ The remaining six buildings will be made available gradually,’ he said. ‘We are coordinating, and the Urban Development and Planning Department has informed us about the progress every week.’ Giri said that they are now busy with the management of other things for the upcoming parliament, except for the building.

The 275-member House of Representatives and the 59-member National Assembly should be held in separate halls. ‘We are not thinking of looking for a hall now because we are confident with the ministry. "There is no hall with that capacity, and even if there is one, the cost of managing the technical aspects increases," says Giri. "When you go to look for a hall outside, you have to arrange security accordingly." The National Assembly is currently operating in the old hall of the Agriculture Committee in the Singha Durbar complex.

The contract was awarded on 16 Asho 2076 to complete the construction of the parliament building by 16 Asho 2079. Tundi-Sec JV took the contract to complete the construction at a cost of 5.67 billion 27 million rupees. At that time, the aim was to hold the meeting of the House of Representatives, which would be formed after the 2079 elections, in the new building.

After the work was not completed within the initial deadline, the deadline was extended for the first time until 30 Chaitra 2079. The second time was until 19 Asho 2080, the third time until 19 Chaitra 2080, the fourth time until 18 Chaitra 2081 and the fifth time until 16 Puush 2082. The President, Prime Minister, the then Speaker, the National Assembly Speaker, the Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development, and others had been inspecting the under-construction Parliament Building from time to time and giving instructions to complete the work quickly. Parliamentary committees had also been monitoring the construction from time to time.

Roshan Shrestha, head of the Special Building Construction Project under the Ministry of Urban Development, said that work is being done to prepare the infrastructure so that the House of Representatives meeting can be held even though the entire structure is not ready. ‘The next House of Representatives meeting will be held in the new Parliament Building. Right now, only the structure necessary to hold the House of Representatives meeting is being constructed without prioritizing other work,’ he said. ‘If there was time, all the work could have been completed at once.’

According to Shrestha, work is underway on the House of Representatives Hall and the ‘Central Lobby’. The work on the National Assembly Hall is not currently prioritized. ‘We will complete the construction of the open area and parking outside the building, we are working on installing the communication, microphone, and sound system inside the House of Representatives hall,’ said Shrestha, ‘The tables and chairs are being prepared at the construction site and some outside.’

Shrestha informed that work is being done around the clock to conduct the House of Representatives meeting from the new building. ‘The work of the false ceiling of the interior is being done, there is a tall hall, it took some time to go up and do the false ceiling work,’ he said. He informed that discussions are underway at the Ministry of Urban Development and the Department of Building Construction about extending the deadline. ‘No decision has been made on whether to extend the deadline by imposing a fine or just give more time,’ he said. ‘The decision will be made based on what does not stop the work.’

Urban Development Minister Kumar Ingnam says that there is no need to be suspicious if the House of Representatives meeting is now held in the new building inside Singha Durbar. ‘We will compensate the construction entrepreneurs who cannot complete the work on time, or we will make them complete the work,’ he says. ‘We have told the construction entrepreneurs to hire as many people as they need and complete the work.’

Minister Ingnam said that he is receiving information about the progress of the building construction every hour. ‘400-500 people are working every day, the work is progressing,’ he said. ‘The Parliament building is needed by Chaitra 1. We have demanded other buildings for the secretariat by Falgun 1. We have also said that the leaders of the opposition parties need living quarters. Now there is no room for delay in the construction.’

The Parliament building is being constructed on an area of ​​156 ropanis in the Singha Durbar complex. The new building is up to five floors high. The House of Representatives, the National Assembly Building, the Central Lobby, the office building for the most distinguished persons, the library and the museum are being prepared there. The parliamentary party office building, parliamentary committee building, parliament secretariat building, chamena grha, press and printing building have been built separately. Infrastructure is being prepared to park 476 four-wheelers and 800 two-wheelers. A building to house security personnel has also been constructed.

The work of the House of Representatives, National Assembly Hall and Central Lobby will be completed before the elections, says Suman Subedi, Managing Director of Tundi Construction. ‘The lobby and hall are very necessary now, their work is almost complete,’ he said, ‘The work of interior and dome roofing (roof) is not ours.’ He says that the work was affected because the government did not provide the ‘site’ on time in the initial days and the decision-making process was delayed by the government body later.

A separate contract for ‘roofing’ was taken by Chainlink Engineering Company for Rs 37.9 million. Its work is 25 percent complete. According to the contract dated 27 Falgun 2080, the deadline is only until the end of Magh. Roshan Shrestha, the head of the special building construction project, claims that its work will be completed within the next one and a half months. The work on the electric panel is still pending.

The responsibility of the ‘interior’ was taken by KC-Shyamsundar-Baniya JV. The contract amount for this is 2 billion 345.4 million rupees. An agreement was signed on 17 Ashad 2080 to complete the work by Ashad 2081. Later, the time was extended to 16 Chaitra 2081, but after the work was not completed, the deadline was again extended to 16 Poush 2082. Now, preparations are underway to extend the deadline until Baisakh 2083. The progress is only 50 percent.

Sushil Kadariya of KC-Shyamsundar-Baniya JV claims that they are working to complete it as soon as possible. ‘We are trying to do the interior work along with the construction, we cannot do it until the construction is completed,’ he says, ‘We are trying to finish it by the time the parliament meets.’

Former Urban Development Secretary Kishor Thapa says that the work has been delayed because the concerned bodies did not show timely interest in a sensitive construction like the parliament building. ‘It would have been better if the work had been studied properly from the beginning and determined how long it would take instead of repeatedly extending the time for a building being built with such a huge investment,’ he says, ‘It was seen as a normal ongoing project, its sensitivity was not considered, it was not considered as a project of national importance. That is why it could not gain momentum.’ He understands that the construction was delayed because the contracting company also failed to mobilize skilled manpower on time.

Earlier, the International Conference Center, where the parliament meetings were held, has been supervised and operated by the Special Structure Operation and Management Development Committee under the Ministry of Urban Development. The Parliament Secretariat had been renewing the rental agreement every fiscal year. The secretariat was preparing to renew it in the current fiscal year as well, but the agreement was not renewed after the damage.

The Parliament Secretariat initially paid Rs 70 million annually to the center as per the agreement. Recently, the annual rent was Rs 170 million. The Law Commission and the Investment Board also contributed some of this. The rent paid by the Parliament to the committee used to be deposited in the fund under the committee itself. Once the new building is operational, there will be no rent to pay.