By Purushottam P. Khatri

Kathmandu, Nov. 15: Technical Major General, a one star general in Nepali Army, who was heading the Kathmandu-Terai/Madhes Fast Track Project, will no longer be the project chief with executive power.
According to one of the senior army officers at Nepali Army Headquarters, the executive power of the project will now be enjoyed by the major general from the infantry category.
The major general of the infantry category will have all authority and power to supervise, issue direction and monitor the overall progress of the expressway, the source told The Rising Nepal on the condition of anonymity on Thursday.
The new decision was made after seven technical members of the Department of Engineering of the Army Headquarters were found breaching privacy by leaking the draft of the evaluation criteria for the selection of an international consultant through the international bidding process.
The Army Headquarters upon the direction of the Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS) General Purna Chandra Thapa, about a month ago, had formed a ‘court of inquiry board’ to investigate into the leakage of the document of the evaluation criteria selection procedure prepared to select an international consultant for the project.
In an investigation of a month, the inquiry board confirmed the leakage of the draft of the evaluation criteria.
Complaint about the leakage of the confidential draft was reported to the Army Headquarter and was in the notice of CoAS Thapa and the Ministry of Defence.
Selection of international consultant through a bidding process is compulsory to take any mega project like the Fast Track for supervision of the project’s work. Although the inquiry board has not published the names of army officers involved in leaking the document, the seven members in the technical drafting committee, were warned.
Former chief of the project Major General Yogendra Khand and present project chief Brigadier General Sharad Lal Shrestha, among others, were in the team that drafted the evaluation criteria. The Military Secretary Department has warned them as per the recommendation of the inquiry board, according to Bigyan Dev Pandey, Brigadier General and spokesperson at the Directorate of Public Relations and Information.
At present, Colonel Bikash Pokharel of the Engineering Department of the Army Headquarters was given the responsibility of project chief.
Meanwhile, talking to The Rising Nepal over the issue of hiring international consultants, Pandey said, the Headquarters had already completed the bidding process and 22 companies from various countries have submitted their Expression of Interest.
Companies from the countries like China, South Korea, India, USA, UK, Australia, France, Turkey, Spain and Singapore have submitted their Expression of Interest (EoI). Out of 22 companies, six would be selected and from them, only one company will win the contract.
Seven different companies from China, five from Korea, three from India, and one each from Australia, U.K, France, USA, Spain, Singapore and Turkey have submitted EoI.
The project was assigned to the NA by the Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda-led government on August 11, 2017. The project was to be completed in four years, and two years have already been elapsed.