Starts process to blacklist 19 contracting firms
KATHMANDU, Feb 10:Division Road Office, Charikot, has swung into action against contractors who have failed to implement projects within the given timeframe.
The office on Tuesday published name of 19 contractors, warning to blacklist them if they do not express commitment to complete the project within the slated timeframe. These contractors are among the 71 contracting firms which were asked to turn up at the office with commitments to complete the given task within the deadline. The office had issued public notice for the purpose on January 20.
Kathmandu Road Division Office starts blacktopping road demolis...
According to officials of the division office, 52 of the 71 contracting firms responded to the notice by February 3 and expressed commitment to complete the project within the given timeframe. Some of the projects handled by these projects in Sindhupalchowk and Dolakha districts were to be completed by 2012. These contracting firms were assigned to complete works like road upgradation, graveling, road maintenance, filling Gabion baskets, earthen works and building culverts, among others.
“These firms did not respond to the office within the given timeframe of two weeks,” a notice published in Tuesday’s Nagarik daily reads.
The decision to take action against contractors, who remained idle for years, was taken to control growing instances of budget freezing at the end of the fiscal year as well as growing demand of locals to monitor contractors, an official of the office said.
If these 19 contractors do not respond to the public notice within seven days, their names will be forwarded to the Public Procurement Monitoring Office, the regulating agency for public contracts, to blacklist them for one to three years. This means they will become ineligible to for any public procurement during the period Also, the government will seize performance guarantee furnished by these firms while signing the contract.
Officials of the Department of Roads (DoR) say that small projects have become a headache for them as they cannot deal with huge number of contractors involved in implementing small projects.
Referring to the decision of Division Road Office Charikot, Laxmi Dutt Bhatta, deputy spokesperson of DoR, said it was probably the first time that such a large number of contractors are being blacklisted. “There is not a single reason behind non performance of contractors,” Bhatta said, adding that the decision to not evaluate contractor capacity for projects worth Rs 6 million or lower is one of the reasons behind that. Ashok Tiwari, chief of Division Road Office, Charikot, could not be reached for comment.
Officials of DoR term the office’s move as a ‘courageous’ act as office chiefs generally do not meddle in the issue, fearing retribution from local contractors who are often backed by local politicians.
Problems start from the selection of projects and budget allocation by the National Planning Commission (NPC) and ministries as per the recommendation of lawmakers and politicians. Such projects, however, do not fall into priority of local authorities.
