KATHMANDU: The government’s plan to set up 10 new town along the Mid-Hill Highway has received setback after the consulting firms bidding to provide service filed a case in the Supreme Court. This has halted work on hiring new consultants to prepare master plan of the proposed modern towns.
Preparation of the master plan and building by-laws of each planned town is considered as a vital part to guide development of whole town in a coordinated way. It guides land use plan, physical infrastructure development, identification of industrial locations for residential areas, health institution, schools and college area, extension of public utilities and road among others.
The government has selected two locations each in the five developments regions as location for the planned cities. Patan (Baitadi), Sanfebagar (Achham), Rakam-Karnali (Dailekh), Chaurjahari (Rukum), Burtibang (Baglung), Dumre Bhansar (Tanahun), Bairenigalchhi (Dhading), Khurkot (Sindhuli), Basantapur (Taplejung) and Phidim (Panchthar) are locations selected by the government for establishing towns.
New Town Project Co-ordination Office (NTPCO) that coordinates the township project said that they have stopped process of hiring consultant for master plan preparation with the SC yet to come with its verdict. Consultants short listed to submit request for proposal (RFP) had approached the SC against the recommendation of the NTPCO to blacklist them.
After consulting firms were found bidding for preparation of master plan by coordinating with each other, NTPCO in January this year had recommended the Public Procurement Monitoring Office to black list them. WILINK Consultants in joint venture (JV) with Archetype Design Consult in association with GRID Consult, SILT Consultants JV with A-not Architecture n Architects in association of CARD Consultants and ERMC JV with NEST were found applying for the consulting service in ‘making collusion’ which is against the Public Procurement Act (PPA), according NPTCO.
As per the PPA, making collusion or involving in groupism prior to or after submission of proposal with the objective of allocating procurement contract among the bidders is illegal. For the case pending in the court, the PPMO too has not black listed the companies so far. Even as the NPTCO also called a fresh tender cancelling previous tender notice, it is yet to short list the potential firms.
“We are not in a position to proceed with procurement for master plan preparation as the case is in consideration of the court,” said Rabi Shah, acting project coordinator of NTPCO. He added that for the delay in master plan preparation, they were currently focusing on land pooling in Phidim, Chaurjahari and Khurkot besides preparing feasibility study of other planned towns.
The NPTCO has been planning to prepare master plan and by-laws for the 10 towns in three packages. Package one consists Phidim, Basantapur, Khurkot and Baireni Galchhi. Dumre Bhansar, Chaurjahari and Burtibang are in package two. Similarly, Rakam-Karnali, Sanfebagar and Patan are in third package.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to increase budget for 10 town development project from next fiscal year. The National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance have agreed to give priority to the project and allocate Rs 500 million under a separate budget head for next fiscal year, according to Shah.
The project was provided Rs 200 million more the current fiscal year. The government has been planning to construct basic infrastructure by itself first and then hand over other tasks including land development and housing construction to the private sector.
Preparation of the master plan and building by-laws of each planned town is considered as a vital part to guide development of whole town in a coordinated way. It guides land use plan, physical infrastructure development, identification of industrial locations for residential areas, health institution, schools and college area, extension of public utilities and road among others.
The government has selected two locations each in the five developments regions as location for the planned cities. Patan (Baitadi), Sanfebagar (Achham), Rakam-Karnali (Dailekh), Chaurjahari (Rukum), Burtibang (Baglung), Dumre Bhansar (Tanahun), Bairenigalchhi (Dhading), Khurkot (Sindhuli), Basantapur (Taplejung) and Phidim (Panchthar) are locations selected by the government for establishing towns.
New Town Project Co-ordination Office (NTPCO) that coordinates the township project said that they have stopped process of hiring consultant for master plan preparation with the SC yet to come with its verdict. Consultants short listed to submit request for proposal (RFP) had approached the SC against the recommendation of the NTPCO to blacklist them.
After consulting firms were found bidding for preparation of master plan by coordinating with each other, NTPCO in January this year had recommended the Public Procurement Monitoring Office to black list them. WILINK Consultants in joint venture (JV) with Archetype Design Consult in association with GRID Consult, SILT Consultants JV with A-not Architecture n Architects in association of CARD Consultants and ERMC JV with NEST were found applying for the consulting service in ‘making collusion’ which is against the Public Procurement Act (PPA), according NPTCO.
As per the PPA, making collusion or involving in groupism prior to or after submission of proposal with the objective of allocating procurement contract among the bidders is illegal. For the case pending in the court, the PPMO too has not black listed the companies so far. Even as the NPTCO also called a fresh tender cancelling previous tender notice, it is yet to short list the potential firms.
“We are not in a position to proceed with procurement for master plan preparation as the case is in consideration of the court,” said Rabi Shah, acting project coordinator of NTPCO. He added that for the delay in master plan preparation, they were currently focusing on land pooling in Phidim, Chaurjahari and Khurkot besides preparing feasibility study of other planned towns.
The NPTCO has been planning to prepare master plan and by-laws for the 10 towns in three packages. Package one consists Phidim, Basantapur, Khurkot and Baireni Galchhi. Dumre Bhansar, Chaurjahari and Burtibang are in package two. Similarly, Rakam-Karnali, Sanfebagar and Patan are in third package.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to increase budget for 10 town development project from next fiscal year. The National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance have agreed to give priority to the project and allocate Rs 500 million under a separate budget head for next fiscal year, according to Shah.
The project was provided Rs 200 million more the current fiscal year. The government has been planning to construct basic infrastructure by itself first and then hand over other tasks including land development and housing construction to the private sector.
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