Kohalpur Municipality to axe erring contractors

By Our Correspondent 

Nepalgunj, Aug 5 : Kohalpur Municipality has initiated action against the construction companies that did not complete various development projects within the stipulated time.

A meeting of the city executive of Kohalpur Municipality has recently decided to take action against eight construction companies that have not completed projects even though the time allotted to them has expired. The municipality said that the process to punish the contractors has been moved forward.

Purna Prasad Acharya, Mayor of Kohalpur, said that the process of assessing the damages caused by the delay in project completion, charging fines, taking disciplinary action, and confiscation of bank guarantees, and blacklisting the construction companies that did not complete the work on time has begun. 

These actions are to be taken as per the Public Procurement Act.

According to him, action has been initiated against Jai Durge Mahakali Construction Services Kanchanpur, KR Construction Kohalpur, Shobha Lakshmi Construction Kohalpur, Bashishtha Construction Services Geruwa Bardia, Maharudra Construction Services Kohalpur, Jai Bhawani Construction Services Kohalpur, Neupane Construction Kohalpur, and Hardik Construction Janaki Banke.

It has been stated that these companies have not completed the construction that should have been completed by July 9 the fiscal year 2021/22. 

Mayor Acharya also said that it has been decided to hold the builders responsible so that the work will be completed in time while managing the plans in the coming days. Stating that not completing the development projects in time is a major problem on part of the construction professionals, he said that on the one hand, development and construction are not progressing at a fast pace, and the cost of the projects is going up due to time extension on the other hand. 

According to the municipality, if the work is not completed in time, the conditional grant money from the federal and state governments will be returned, and the municipality will have to bear financial responsibility, causing a loss of millions of rupees.

Likewise, the municipality has also decided that payment cannot be made for 11 projects that were agreed upon on the basis of verbal orders without the decision of the municipal assembly or the executive, whose documents are not complete, and whose work cannot be verified whether it is done.