KATHMANDU: President Bidya Devi Bhandari, who is currently in China, has canceled her visit to the Beijing-based office of Huawei, the Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics manufacturer, following the dispute that cropped up over the visit.
Debates surfaced within the entourage members of the state visit of the president after Nepali Embassy in Beijing scheduled her Huawei visit which was not pre-planned. Nepali Ambassador to China Leelamani Paudyal had fixed the president’s visit for Friday.
Foreign Minister, Foreign Secretary and others in the visiting team were against the visit to the company that has been mired in controversies in Nepal and also internationally.
Former Minister for Finance Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Chairman of Kantipur Media Group Kailash Sirohiya, Chairman of Media Society Shubha Shankar Kandel and businessman Chandra Dhakal among others were for not visiting the office.
The government had fined the company Rs 320 million for failing to work as per the contract for a CDMA project of Nepal Telecom. The company was awarded the contract in 2011 but it failed to complete works even within six years.
Likewise, the company was awarded a contract without bidding to develop a Digital Action Room at the Prime Minister’s Office. Later, the contract was scrapped after disputes. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has launched a probe after the contract was awarded going against the existing procurement laws.
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