Efforts on Tuesday to award the 76-km Kathmandu-Nijgadh Fast Track project to an Indian developer, through a direct executive order, thankfully failed. The project, as it now appears on paper, is not in Nepal's interest. The most controversial aspect concerns the Minimum Revenue Guarantee (MRG) being offered to the Indian developer. According to the agreement in its current form, Nepal government will guarantee a minimum of Rs 15 billion a year if the new road does not see the expected daily traffic of around 24,000 Passenger Car Units. This is an impossible target as even the busiest check-post for highway traffic right now, Thankot, does not see so many vehicles in a day. It was for this reason that the parliament's Finance and Development committees had separately raised objections to the contract and ruled that the agreement in its current format could not go through. But if some senior Nepali Congress leaders, including ministers, had their way in a meeting at the Prime Minister's residence on Tuesday, it could have been a done deal. Thankfully, after listening to both the supporters and opponents of the project, including former prime ministers, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala exercised his judgment and refused to sign the Fast Track agreement.But the underhand way in which some senior Congress leaders tried to get it endorsed has raised some disturbing questions. When two parliamentary committees had already raised their objections to the agreement, how could responsible government ministers table the proposal without necessary amendments? It is reasonable to assume that the concerned ministers, as well as a former Nepali Congress prime minister, were pushing the project to stay in India's good books. This, they clearly believe, is important to achieve their big political goals. What a shame! The entire country is up in arms against India for an unjustifiable economic blockade, imposed with the intention of chocking its small neighbor into submission. Yet here are our ministers and respected political leaders who, to further their political careers, are ready to bargain away vital national interest. With the abundance of such subservient leaders in Kathmandu, no wonder India believes it can ride roughshod over Nepal.
But despite all that has transpired between India and Nepal recently, our concern is not that the Fast Track was going to an Indian company wholly owned by Indian government. Our only concern is the bulldozing of due process. The attempt to push the project is all the more baffling since the government Sushil Koirala leads has already been relegated to a caretaker status. It is illegal for a caretaker government to make decisions on matters of long-term national interest, much less one that could cost the national exchequer a whopping Rs 15 billion a year for 30 years. So even if the contract is now modified, it must await the formation of a plenipotentiary government for its final approval. But unless the loopholes in the contract are not closed, there is no question of awarding it to anyone, not now and not at any time in the future.
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