Clarification sought for project delays

Kathmandu, May 18

The District Administration Office (DAO) Kathmandu has asked 24 heads of government offices and contractors to submit all information related to public construction activities in Kathmandu district.

“The concerned officials and contractors have been given a three-day deadline to furnish the progress report and work schedule of their related construction works,” said Basudev Ghimire, assistant chief district officer of Kathmandu.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had, on Thursday, forwarded letters to all District Administration Offices across the country seeking detailed information and list of contractors who have not completed their works like construction of roads, sewage systems and bridges on schedule.

“We sent letters to the concerned heads of government offices and also to the contractors today as per the direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs,” informed Ghimire. “If they fail to provide the necessary documents that we have asked for, we will initiate legal action and may even arrest them,” he added.

According to Ghimire, DAO Kathmandu has sent letters to 24 government offices, including the Department of Roads, Division Road Office of Kathmandu 1 and 2 sectors, Department of Water Supply and Sewerage, Department of Irrigation and all metropolitan offices of Kathmandu.

In the letter, DAO has asked all concerned offices and officials to provide information regarding the total number of contracts signed; names, contact numbers and addresses of the contractor firms; names of the supervising governmental officials; contract dates and also the reasons why the affected projects were not implemented on time.

“We have been receiving frequent complaints from members of the general public on why projects were not being implemented on time and also on why even those projects that were completed as scheduled have degraded within a short period of time,” said Ghimire, adding that these were the reasons why the government has taken this step to initiate action against erring government officials and contractors.