Nepal Infrastructure 
KATHMANDU: Minister for Urban Development Sita Gurung urged businessmen to discourage the practice of low bidding and promote the spirit of timely completion of works ensuring desired quality. In a meeting with a delegation of the Federation of Contractors’ Associations of Nepal (FCAN) led by its president Ravi Singh, Minister Gurung expressed her commitment to cooperating with construction entrepreneurs to move forward with development activities.
She also informed the meeting that necessary policy reforms will be initiated for the development of the construction industry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and in consultation with relevant stakeholders. Expressing concern over the reported freezing of the payment to contractors, she pledged to take initiative to resolve the problems at the earliest.
She also assured that major stakeholders including construction entrepreneurs will be involved in consultations meant for amending the Public Procurement Act. The FCAN’s president Singh acquainted Minister Gurung and senior officials of the Ministry of Urban Development with existing problems facing construction sectors and sought necessary support from the government to resolve the obstacles.
“ The problems of construction professionals are still intact despite the amendment of Public Procurement regulations. The crisis in this sector can’t be resolved without the government’s support,” said Singh.
President Singh drew the attention of Minister Gurung to the fact that the businessmen were not able to work on time due to the Covid, elections, festivals, the ban on the extraction of mines and river materials, and the lack of timely payment to contractors.
Chairman Singh demanded the government extend the timeline of all the projects until the end of June 2081. Singh said contract agreements of the projects that are not completed even by the end of June 2081 can be terminated as per the Public Procurement rules. The FCAN delegation includes Yakshadhwaj Karki, Senior Vice President Ang Dorjee Lama (AD), General Secretary Roshan Dahal, Deputy Secretary General Shivhari Ghimire, Working Committee members Dan Bahadur Khadka, Janakraj Timalsina, Bishnuprasad Lamichhane, Vinod Bhattarai, among others.
