Construction entrepreneurs upbeat over an amendment to Public Procurement Regulations

KATHMANDU: Construction entrepreneurs have responded positively to the 12th amendment of the Public Procurement Regulations stating that continued vigilance is necessary for the business-friendly legal environment in the country. In the eleventh meeting of the Nepal Contractors’ Federation Associate Coordination Committee, the construction professionals also underlined the need to make this sector more responsible and respectable.

Addressing the meeting Ravi Singh, president of the Federation of Contractors’ Association of Nepal (FCAN) said that the twelfth amendment to the Public Procurement Regulations has brought relief to construction entrepreneurs at a time when this sector is in crisis.  “The fresh amendment is a sigh of relief for us”, Singh said.

Singh said that the responsibility of making this profession respectable has now fallen on the shoulders of the businessmen, eliminating the negative impact on the construction industry. He also said the development and expansion of physical infrastructure cannot accelerate without construction professionals who are the charioteers of prosperity.

Jeep Tshering Lama Sherpa, former president of FCAN, commented that amendments are needed not in the regulations but in the Act itself to improve the construction industry. He said that not only the construction industry but also the government officials should be equally responsible for the development of the construction industry.

The Immediate Past President of FCAN, Bishnu Bhai Shrestha, opined that the prosperity of the country is possible only through the development of the construction industry.

 Associate Coordinating Committee Coordinator Ramji Pant, who is also the vice-president of the federation, argued that the country’s economy can be strengthened only when the construction industry, which employs more than 2.5 million, is really operational.

Shiv Prasad Nepal, Chairman of the Construction Business Promotion and Management Implementation Committee, Construction entrepreneurs Purna Bahadur Tamang, Suwit Shrestha, Chhatra Lama, Shivhari Ghimire, and others discussed the problems of construction businessmen in the program.

The general meeting has elected the Committee’s office bearers unopposed. The new committee includes NC Sherpa, Bhairaja Shrestha, and Ramesh Adhikari as co-convenors, Navraj Shrestha and Mohan Karki as secretaries while Madhav Prasad Acharya as under-secretary. Similarly, Lakshmi Karki and Krishnahari Choulagai were elected treasurer and co-treasurer respectively while Kumaradhwaj Karki, Umeshdhwaj Thapa, Gokarna Raut, Anil Silwal, Khadga Bahadur Budhathoki, Kumar Prasad Gautam, and Surya Adhikari are members of the committee.

Som Prasai, Vinod Bhattarai, and Keshav Twanavasu have been selected as advisors of the committee. Various construction entrepreneurs were honored on the occasion.