A meeting of PAC on Friday directed MoTCA to submit a progress report within a week, asking it why a new procurement deal has not been finalized since 2009. PAC also stated that there was no question of reviving the previous deal. [break]
The committee had earlier asked the government to cancel the procurement deal, citing irregularities and ordered it to initiate a new process.
However, after a written request from the French embassy to revive the deal, MoTCA had requested PAC for reviving the procurement deal. The letter stated that the procurement deal could be done at the same price quoted by Airbus in 2009. Airbus had quoted US $ 41 million and US $ 93 million for narrow body and wide body aircraft respectively.
The committee´s meeting on Friday has re-instructed the ministry to initiate a new procurement process at earliest in transparent and responsible manner. "We have instructed MoTCA and Nepal Airlines Corporation to give continuity to previous decisions while adhereing to the Public Procurement Act," chairman of the committee Ram Krishna Yadav said.
Lawmaker Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani said that PAC should criticize MoTCA´s failure to work out a fresh procurement deal.
Secretary at Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) Yagya Prasad Gautam opined that it was important to analyze the market and human resources at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) before initiating the procurement process.
Secretary at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Bhagawati Kafle said that there was no debate on procurement but the process has to be legal.
MoTCA Secretary Ganesh Raj Joshi said delay had made the procurement procedure complex. "We will initiate procurement process as per PAC instruction," he said.
Related story
Kerala Tourism’s first STREET project inaugurated in Maravanthu...
_20240311121839.jpg)
-1200x560-1779450784.webp)
