Mid-bidding may replace the low-bidding provision in procurement act

Kathmandu, May 12: Member of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Min Bahadur Shahi said on Sunday that the government was considering opting for mid-bidding system for the development projects.

"The Public Procurement Act has been termed as one of the biggest hurdles in implementing the development projects. Therefore we are thinking to change the provision to mid-bidding which will end the malady of low-bidding," he said while speaking at the Gorkhapatra Sambad, a weekly dialogue programme organised by the Gorkhapatra Corporation, publisher of The Rising Nepal.

Similarly, only the feasible projects which are included in the NPC project bank will be included in the budget and go into implementation.

"The first year of the federalism was spent in setting the foundation of the new political system, and the next year will be the year of development implementation. Good governance, including the reform in bureaucracy and policy, are in priority," said Shahi.

Lawmaker Yogesh Bhattarai said that the policy and programmes introduced by the government has focused on building socialism-oriented economy as guided by the constitution.

Bhattarai said that as the government concentrated its efforts to manage the new federal system for the past one year, it could not deliver as per public expectation in terms of economic development.

"As most of the works related to logistics management have been completed, the coming year will be the year of implementation and the country will embark on the path of rapid economic growth," he said.

He stressed on the overhaul of the current administration system to make it more functional and result oriented.

Likewise, Lawmaker Badri Pandey said the policy and programme of the government was not been encouraging as was expected from the government with a two-thirds majority.  

He said that the government was only focusing on taking credits of the development works carried out by the previous governments, without doing anything for the progress of other projects.

He blamed the federal government for taking the provincial and local governments as problems. The federal government is influencing the smooth functioning of the local and state governments, he said.

Pandey said that his party, Nepali Congress, was not been able to play the effective role of the opposition. "We will play the role of a creative opposition on the basis of facts and figures," he said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 13 May 2019.