Sunsari, April 20

Construction of Maternal and Child Health Care building at the Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences remains halted for the past five months.

Construction work that had started since the end of last fiscal was halted after the institute failed to pay the contractor.

Sharma-Rasuwa JV Kathmandu had been entrusted with completing the 400-bed facility in three years. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 2.17 billion. So far, only 30 per cent of the project has been completed.

“Though work continued for six months, we had to halt construction after the institute failed to pay us the amount pledged in the contract,” said engineer Bibek Aryal of the contractor company.

“The institute paid us Rs 860 million, but couldn’t pay additional Rs 220 million. As a result we could not pay our workers. This is why we had to halt work,” the engineer added.

Further the engineer lamented the loss the company is bearing due to the delay in payment.

On his part, vice-chancellor at BP Koiarla Institute of Health Sciences Dr Raj Kumar Rauniyar blamed former health minister Dipak Bohora for the failure to pay the contractor.

Earlier, the minister under the Nepali Congress-led government had directed the institute to stop all payments to the contractor citing irregularities in the financial activities. It had also formed an investigation committee to probe into financial irregularities.