KATHMANDU: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) under the House of Representatives (HoR) has re-written to the Nepal Army (NA) Thursday regarding its order to cancel the contract and procurement process of the second package related to the construction of the tunnel and bridge of Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track.

Expressing discontentment at the tender called on April 25 by the NA for the fast track project against PAC’s April 1 directive, PAC wrote to the NA again on Thursday.

The PAC has again given three days to the NA to submit paperwork related to the ongoing process to it.

Despite frequent calls to stop the process, the NA has been pressing ahead with the Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track Project without heeding to PAC directive.

Last week, PAC also sent a seven-day ultimatum to the Ministry of Defense to furnish details of the progress made so far on the implementation of its April 1 directive. After the Ministry of Defense failed to provide concrete answers regarding its directive, PAC directly wrote to the NA today.

On April 1, PAC made a two-point decision to stop the procurement process and gave instructions to the government for the enforcement of its decision; however, neither the procurement process nor the ongoing activities have halted to date.

The NA is still working according to the project’s ‘old’ schedule although PAC concluded that the procurement process was not conducted in a competitive, transparent, and economical manner as per the Public Procurement Act. PAC also found regularities in the pre-qualification selection of the contract worth Rs 52 billion.

PAC had cut off a letter to the Kathmandu Terai Madhesh Fast Track Office of the Nepal Army on March 10, giving a week to submit the tender documents and evaluation report along with the answers to the 11 questions raised in the tender case. The NA had sent the necessary documents including the answers to those questions to the committee within the stipulated time.

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