August 16: The proposed East-West electric railway has courted controversy after the tender notice was called without securing resources and land acquisition. The Department of Railway has signed a multi-year contract of Rs 28 billion for the construction of track bed of Kakadvitta-Inaruwa section of the electric railway in collusion with construction entrepreneurs by violating the existing rules.

According to the Public Procurement Regulation-2064, a multi-year contract can be signed only after completing the basic works. However, the Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Commission have turned a blind eye to this provision for the construction of 106 km track bed of Kakadvitta-Inaruwa section.

To move forward the multiyear contract, the MoF must ensure resources and the NPC must agree in principle that it is a ‘National Pride Project’.

The department had called for tender for the construction of the 106km long track bed on June 28 and July 1, where only domestic construction companies could participate. The government announced the tender notice of more than Rs 25 billion at a time when the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown has been weakening the economy and causing severe shortage of resources.

Therefore, the dispute over this tender has reached the Patan High Court. A contractor says that an average of 2.5km will be divided among each construction company after the tender is divided into 54 packages.

Tej Kumar Kurumbang had filed a case at the High Court on August 2 seeking the court intervention to scrap the tender bid alleging that it had participated only limited construction companies.

Balram Mishra, director general of the department, said that the legal problem has been resolved after the court ordered the railway department to move ahead with the work on August 10.

"Following the court order, the bidding process has already started," Mishra said, "More than 125 construction companies have applied for the tender.”