March 6: The government has been revising the public procurement regulations every year. With the latest amendment to the regulation, the government has eased the provision of extending the deadlines of several projects that have failed to complete the work on time. The government recently amended the regulation for the 13th time and has cleared the way for extension of the deadline of such projects.

The 'Public Procurement (13th amendment) Regulation 2080', published in the Nepal Gazette on Monday, has provisions that the deadline for small and large infrastructure projects that have been incomplete for years can be extended.

As per the amended laws, the maximum period for which the deadline can be extended has not been specified. Due to this, the contractors will have to decide how long the deadline can be extended.

Such a provision was also included in the 12th amendment of the regulation which was amended in last June and published in the Nepal Gazette. In the 12th amendment of the regulation, it has been mentioned that the project whose purchase agreement period has expired or the purchase agreement has been completed by the end of June 2079 but the work has not been completed can apply for deadline extension. In addition, there is also a provision that the authority approving the bid can extend the deadline up to mid-July this year without incurring any additional financial burden by setting a progress limit (milestone) in such a way that the project must achieve at least two milestones.

However, this issue is not clear in the latest amendment. Due to this, there isn’t any fixed period for deadline extension of projects that have not been completed within the contract period. After the revision of the regulations, the relevant authorities will be able to extend the deadline of projects that have either been extended or have expired or cannot be extended.

The 13th amendment states that there should be half a dozen different reasons for extension.

The government officials say that the deadline will be extended only for projects facing specific challenges such as design changes in the purchase agreement, insufficient budget, non-availability of construction site, non-payment on time, lack of construction materials, or natural disasters at the construction sites.

For the deadline extension, the construction entrepreneur has to submit an application within 30 days.

Ravi Singh, president of the Federation of Contractors Association of Nepal, argues that not setting the time limit is scientific. “Despite the extension of the deadline, the biggest problem is the payment," he said. He also claimed that the government should take proper steps keeping this matter in mind.