November 28: The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Nepal has issued a specific procurement notice in regard with the construction of electricity transmission lines.    
It has invited sealed bids from all interested and eligible bidders for design, supply, delivery, installation, testing and commissioning of the transmission lines. The project covers Lapsiphedi-Ratmate-New Hetauda 400kV D/C transmission line, Ratmate-New Damauli 400kV D/C transmission line, New Damauli-New Butwal 400kV D/C transmission line and New Butwal-Nepal/India Border 400kV D/C transmission line, according to the notice.    
It is stated that bidding will be conducted through the Quality and Price Based Selection (QPBS) procedures as specified in the MCC Program Procurement Guidelines (PPG), and is open to all eligible bidders or consultants as defined in the PPG.    
A complete set of bidding documents may be obtained by interested bidders upon the submission of a written application at the following email address [email protected] with cc to [email protected]. The deadline for submitting the sealed documents is March 27.    
All bids shall be accompanied by a bid security amount of US$ 700,000 for Lot 1, US$ 550,000 for Lot 2 and US$ 675,000 for Lot 3 and if issued by a bank located outside of Nepal, must be confirmed (counter bank guarantee to be issued) by a correspondent financial institution located in Nepal and shall be valid until December 20, 2023, reads the notice.    
It may be noted that the Government of Nepal and the United States of America-based Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) entered into a Millennium Challenge Compact on September 14, 2017, under which the US government pledged to provide a grant of up to US$ 500 million to expedite the economic growth and reduce poverty in Nepal to which the Government of Nepal will contribute up to US$ 130 million. -- RSS