April 1: The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has instructed the Nepalese Army (NA) to scrap the second phase of contract awarding process for the construction of bridges and tunnels.

PAC took a decision to this effect following a discussion held on March 31, Wednesday. The house panel has initiated formal investigation over the contract awarding process on suspicion of possible irregularities in selection of contractors.

The Nepalese Army had selected Chinese Contractor Poly Chhangda Engineering Company Limited out of 21 companies. A total of 21 companies had submitted applications to build bridges and tunnelsunder the fast-track project.

The Nepalese Army has been given full responsibility to construct the 76.5 Km long Fast Track which joins Kathmandu with the Terai. The NA has divided the construction of the project into three parts.  It plans to construct 17 km on its own, recruit Nepali and international contractors for the construction of the remaining stretch of road section, tunnel and bridges.

The Fast Track will have three tunnels covering 6.41 km and 71 small and big bridges with a total length of 10.59 km. The cost of the project has been estimated to be Rs 175 billion and the project is expected to be completed by 2024.