Nepali Congress President Gagan Kumar Thapa has said that systemic problems, not just superficial reasons, are the main culprits behind the slow pace of infrastructure development in Nepal.

Saying that development is not possible through 'magical' methods such as giving instructions, intimidating contractors or abusing employees, he claimed that he has a clear blueprint to transform the infrastructure sector in the next 5 years.

Releasing a video message on social media, Thapa illustrated the poor condition of national pride projects such as the Narayangadh-Butwal road section, the East-West Highway and the Melamchi Drinking Water Project and concluded that the traditional style of development is no longer viable. Thapa termed the situation where major projects in the country remain stalled for years and repeated digging and repairing work is being done on city roads due to lack of coordination as a 'problem' of development.

Stating that the trend of digging for drinking water immediately after the road is constructed, and then digging again for sewage and fiber, he said that the country is losing a huge opportunity cost due to this. Thapa also mentioned that he had closely observed the problems seen in infrastructure construction while serving in parliament, parliamentary committees and ministries for a long time. 

‘We may get applause from time to time by intimidating contractors or by visiting the project site and giving instructions, but the problem will not be solved,’ he said, ‘We cannot work only on the symptoms, we must get to the root and treat it.’

Law is an obstacle, three dozen acts need to be changed

Thapa believes that the main reason for the delay in infrastructure construction is the old legal structure. He said that the 48-year-old Road Act and the 20-year-old Public Procurement Act cannot address today’s needs. 
He informed that his study showed that about 3 dozen laws need to be amended, modified or repealed to complete infrastructure on time.  He claims that no matter how much noise is made outside without changing the law, there will be no results. 

Saying that the unrest starts from the selection of the plan, Thapa emphasized the need to end the tendency to plan based on political access and pressure. He said that he is preparing to make a provision in the law that ‘cost-benefit analysis’ should now be mandatory when selecting projects and that no one should be allowed to exercise discretionary power.

Understanding the ‘value of time’

Stating that both quality and time have been lost by giving priority only to ‘low cost’ (low bidding) in the public procurement process, Thapa has proposed that ‘time value of money’ (time value of money) should now be given priority. He said that legal provisions should be made to give priority to those who can work quickly, looking at the practices of India and other countries.
Thapa emphasized that transparency and social audit should be mandatory to maintain good governance in the infrastructure sector. He argues that the regulatory body should be strengthened but should not be interfered with to the point of being unable to function.

He also said that the practice of announcing large projects but not ensuring resources should be ended. He pointed out that investment in infrastructure can be raised by using new financial instruments such as monetization of public assets and hybrid annuity model (HAM).

Commitment to transformation in 5 years

Saying that in the past, problems were not solved by ministers taking a whip in their hands and saying they would break contracts or abusing someone, Thapa claimed that now only institutional capacity and legal reforms will result.
He said, “If we think that the problem will be solved miraculously like magic, the next 5 years will also be wasted. I want to assure you that we will make transformative changes in the infrastructure sector within these 5 years.”