KATHMANDU, June 3: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) has issued a fresh directive to all district authorities to take necessary legal action against those contractors who have either failed to complete development projects on time or have done substandard work.
After detailed reports forwarded by the district administration offices across the country showed that majority of the contractors have either been delaying various development projects or carrying out substandard work, the home ministry directed the district authorities to take legal action against such contractors, said spokesperson for the home ministry Ram Krishna Subedi.
He said that the recent arrests of contractors in various districts were in line with the direction of the home ministry.
According to him, the home ministry held a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Urban Development and directed the district bodies of the ministries to coordinate with the authorities and find the ‘erring’ contractors.
Residents demand stringent laws against contractors
On Saturday, after a surprise inspection by Biratnagar Metropolitan City Office found a contractor named Tundiraman Construction Service Pvt Ltd of carrying out road construction using sub-standard materials, three persons of the company including the project manager Rabi Panta were arrested. Other arrested were Supervisor Binay Sah and site supervisor of the Road Division Office, Dev Raj Baral. The District Police Office arrested them at the behest of the metropolis office.
Similarly, the metropolis office has asked the road division office to take necessary measures to ensure quality construction work.
Similarly, over 300 of a total 538 development projects being constructed by various contractors in Kathmandu have already crossed the construction deadline but are yet to be completed, according to the project details forwarded by the Kathmandu District Administration Office to the home ministry.
“We have directed the district body to bring those delaying contractors under the purview of law and ensure they complete the construction works as soon as possible,” Spokesperson Subedi said.
The details sent by Ilam District Administration Office (DAO) shows that 29 development projects are yet to be completed due to delay on the part of the contractors. Majority of the delayed projects are related to road related infrastructures.
“Development projects under District Technical Office, Irrigation Division, Road Division and Urban Development and Building Construction Division have been delayed,” informed Chief District Officer Shrawan Kumar Timsina. He said that legal action will be taken against the ‘defaulting’ contractors as per the home ministry’s direction.
Similarly, the Jumla DAO has warned to take legal action if the contractors who have halted construction works under various pretexts do not resume their work within the next five days.
