Kathmandu, January 6

The government has blacklisted Pappu-Raman Construction Company after it failed to complete the assigned projects on time.

The Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) under the Prime Minister’s Office issued a notice today stating that Pappu-Raman JV has been blacklisted on the recommendation of the Postal Highway Directorate under the Department of Roads.

A meeting of the PPMO on Friday had decided to blacklist the company. Both the companies of the joint venture have been blacklisted for one year.

They will no longer be able to participate in any contract for a year.

The PPMO has blacklisted both the companies with effect from August 6, as per section (141) and sub-section (13) of Public Procurement Guidelines.

The Postal Highway Directorate had made a recommendation to blacklist Pappu-Raman JV after the company failed to complete construction works of the Narayani bridge within the stipulated time. The joint venture had won the contract to build Narayani bridge in 2013 and it was given the responsibility to both design and construct the bridge.

As per the contract, the Narayani bridge should have been completed by 2016 but the project has not made any tangible progress.

The joint venture was working on the Postal Highway project with financial support of the Indian government.

Interestingly, Raman Construction, a partner of the joint venture, has also won the contract for the reconstruction of the historic Dharahara in Kathmandu.

As per Raman Mahato, managing director of Raman Construction, the company will be allowed to complete the reconstruction of Dharahara.

However, with the company being blacklisted by the government, it will not be allowed to bid for future projects being implemented by any government agency till August 5, as per the PPMO.

“The PPMO is biased against us. It decided to blacklist us without seeking any clarification from us,” Mahato alleged.

Mahato further said that his company will continue to build projects for which it has already received the contracts.

About a week back, Raman Construction had won the bid to construct the national pride Bheri-Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project worth Rs 6.17 billion.

Last year, the government had blacklisted 51 companies, for flouting rules and regulations related to procurement and construction.