Koshi Province Halts All Development Project Tenders

Biratnagar. The Koshi Province government has completely halted the tender process for development construction projects approved for the current fiscal year for the time being. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development has instructed all subordinate infrastructure development offices not to proceed with the tender process, citing that the budget review process is underway, a minimum common program is being formulated among the ruling coalition parties, and projects need to be reviewed. The ministry has formally sent a letter to all its subordinate infrastructure development offices requesting them not to publish new tenders until further notice. 'As per the instructions of the Honourable Minister of Physical Infrastructure Development, although the budget for FY 2083/084 has been received, since the said budget is in the process of revision, it is requested to prepare only the cost estimates of the projects/programs under that budget for now and not to publish tenders until further notice.' The letter signed by Secretary Milan Acharya states, 'Therefore, it is requested to immediately halt the tender publication work of projects/programs for FY 2083/084 until further arrangements and implement accordingly.' Physical Infrastructure Development Minister Jeevan Acharya clarified that the main reasons for halting the tender process are budget review and political consensus. He stated that due to the change in government and the formation of a new coalition, priorities need to be reviewed. 'Our political consensus is still pending. First, preparations are underway to create a minimum common program. The minimum common program should come first; the Chief Minister has also said in the parliament that a minimum common program will come. Work is underway to select overlapping and redundant projects. The Ministry of Finance will also provide a separate ceiling; after that, we will proceed with the tender process only after reviewing the budget slightly,' said Minister Acharya, explaining the reason for halting the tenders. Minister Acharya clarified that old and ongoing multi-year projects will not be affected. 'All old multi-year projects that are currently in the operation and construction phase will not be stopped, they will proceed regularly. However, regarding the new budget that has come, the honourable members of the previous coalition themselves had disagreements. Therefore, it is being organized and moved forward. We will not delay much, but the process will move forward after the political consensus and budget framework are clear,' he said. Meanwhile, following the severe flood in BhoteKoshi, Rasuwa, which caused significant damage to roads, motorable bridges, and suspension bridges, the provincial government has started discussions to change the technical standards for infrastructure construction. Minister Acharya stated that the ministry is also discussing whether the detailed project reports (DPRs) prepared in the past will be sufficient for future projects. Minister Acharya said that due to the increasing river water levels and widening floodplains, the height and structural design of bridges and infrastructure need to be changed. 'Looking at this BhoteKoshi flood, it seems that the old structural designs of river bridges and suspension bridges will no longer be useful. It appears they need to be built a bit higher. Instead of allocating budgets based on past DPRs, there is a need to review them. Everyone is saying this,' said Minister Acharya. He claimed that learning from disasters, future infrastructure will be made sustainable and robust. 'The BhoteKoshi incident has been a big lesson for us. Keeping that in mind, all future work, from DPRs to everything else, will be carried forward by looking at new technology. We will proceed with future construction work only after learning lessons by looking at technology and understanding what can be done better and what were the weaknesses in floods and landslides,' he said.