Kathmandu, July 14

Stating that the private construction companies have been continuously causing delays in public construction works citing various reasons, the government has opened its own construction company named Nepal Infrastructure Construction Company (NICC), which has been registered at the Office of the Company Registrar.

The government has said that with the establishment of its own construction company the private construction companies will now be more diligent and accelerate development works as per the government’s necessity.

The government has stated that NICC will work in tunnel construction and large size construction activities including all types of government construction works. The company has been set up with authorised capital of Rs 10 billion and issued capital worth Rs three billion.

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Urban Development are the institutional shareholders of NICC and hold 7.5 million shares in total.

According to Rajeshwor Gyawali, spokesperson for the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the company has been given executive rights to execute major construction works. “The company will construct roads, airports, fast track roads, highways, dry ports, ports, canals, pipelines, substations and transmission lines, among others,” he added.

As per him, the government has given NICC the authority to conduct studies related to the engineering aspects of the aforementioned works including pre-feasibility, feasibility, investigation, design, management, detailed feasibility study, detailed project report environment impact assessment, among others.

“What has to be made clear is that the NICC has not been established to compete with the private sector and it will focus on accelerating the government initiated projects,” Gyawali said.

The company will have seven directors in its board from the energy ministry, physical infrastructure ministry and urban development ministry as founding members. Moreover, representatives of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and the Ministry of Drinking Water will also be involved as members of the company.

“We have planned to immediately open an office for the company and frame necessary guidelines to operate it,”

Gyawali said, adding that the government will hire employees through open competition.

The company will also provide training for capacity enhancement and other construction related works to Nepali contractors.

Meanwhile, the government had established National Construction Company Nepal in 1961, however since it faced continuous losses it was closed down in 2010.