Kathmandu, June 28: The House of Representatives (HoR) meeting held today unanimously endorsed a proposal tabled by Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Sobita Gautam.
The proposal sought consideration on ‘Public Procurement (second amendment) Bill, 2083’.
On behalf of Prime Minister Balendra Shah, Minister Gautam presented the proposal on the Bill, which aims at making public procurement more transparent and systematic.
In response to the lawmakers’ queries raised during the deliberation, Minister Gautam argued the Bill was brought to make the bidding process transparent so that it would ensure prompt results to the people.
Timely procurement would also encourage completion of projects on time, she reminded, adding that advance preparation for project was another feature. ]The Minister further informed the Bill had the provision for taking action against the agencies and layers that do not respond promptly eg in supply of construction materials for projects and extension of necessary cooperation and coordination.
According to her, the party taking charge of the project would be taken action under the charge of criminal offense if it uses the advance taken for project elsewhere.
Lawmakers Ashish Gajurel, Yubaraj Dulal, Balawati Sharma, Bishwaraj Pokharel, Chandra Mohan Yadav and Parasmani Gelal took part in the discussion. They welcomed the provision of not listing in evaluation the applicants who submit tender with 30 percent less than the approved cost estimate. They suggested that the average score should be maintained in the bids and the use of Nepali construction materials for development works. The trend of abandoning the construction works in the middle of the contract must end, they prodded.
Some lawmakers, however, expressed disagreement over the way government adopted to introduce law- ordinance by avoiding parliament.#nepal #rss
