Call to amend laws for smooth implementation of dev projects
KATHMANDU, June 15:
Lawmakers have urged the government to forward the bill to amend Public Procurement Act, 2007, to the parliament for endorsement at the earliest.
Speaking at the meeting of Finance Committee on Sunday, Rewati Raman Bhandari of CPN-UML suggested to the government to make amendment to other related laws like Governance Act, Construction Business Act and Public Crime and Punishment Act along with the Public Procurement Act to incorporate all cross-cutting issues relating to procurement.
“Amendments to the Public Procurement Act alone cannot give desired results unless contractors and the executing agencies are made responsible for implementation of the projects within the given timeframe,” he said. Bhandari also suggested reducing month-long time to submit a bid proposal.
The provision of awarding tender to the lowest bidder, lengthy bid submission time and the provision to give 20 percent of the contract amount in advance as mobilization fund to the contractor while signing the contract are the major flaws in the Public Procurement Act, according to the lawmakers.
Dr Subodh Kumar Pokhrel of MPRF-Democratic said development programs should not be used to provide funds to cadres of ruling parties. Pokharel also said the Public Procurement Act should incorporate defects liability period to make sure that contractors deliver quality work.
Lack of legal provisions to make contractors liable for defective works is encouraging contractors to deliver substandard works.
Most of the lawmakers said mobilization fund should be released to contractors on installment basis rather than bulk payment of 20 percent. “We have come to know that most of the contractors have been using such advance payments on other businesses.
Such tendency should end,” Uday Shumsher Rana of Nepali Congress said. He also said the provision of awarding tender to the lowest bidder has been creating difficulties in project implementation. “Contractors deliberately delay implementation of the project to take advantage of cross variation which is a wrong practice,” he added.
Earlier, committee chair Bharat Mohan Adhikari had asked secretaries of development related ministries -- Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Physical Planning and Transportation, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Irrigation, Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Commerce and Supplies - and the Federation of Contractors Association Nepal to share complications that they have faced while adhering to the requirements prescribed in the Public Procurement Act.
Madhav Regmi, secretary at the Ministry of Irrigation, said the lowest bidder often go out of contact if there is huge gap in cost with the second lowers bidder. “We need to blacklist such contractors to discourage the unhealthy practice of bidding at low cost,” he added.
Commenting on the trend of producing fake documents by the contractors, finance secretary Yuba Raj Bhusal said the technical evaluation committee should ask for documents approved by the Inland Revenue Offices. “We should also develop a system of tracking the contractors and the projects. This will clearly show which contractor has been handling more projects,” he added.
Similarly, Financial Comptroller General Shankar Prasad Adhikari emphasized the need to incorporate a provision to put defects liability on contractors so as to ensure quality works.
Speaking at the meeting, Jaya Ram Lamichhane, president of FCAN, said the Public Procurement Act should allow Nepal contractors to bid development projects funded by foreign assistance. Existing provisions prevent Nepali contractors from bidding such projects.
Source: Republica
