The contruction of public infrastructure projects in Nepal mostly progresses at a snail’s pace. Complaints on the matter are widespread as are reported delays in the contsruction of public infrastructure projects.
Many times contractors do not even begin the construction of such projects even as dealines expire, and other times, contractors lobby for frequent extension of deadlines. Such incidents force the government to terminate contracts of numerous ongoing projects in the middle.
As a result, the coutry's entire economic growth has been hindered. Except for a small number of projects, a large chunk of projects miss deadlines annually.
To address such prevailing scenarios, the National Planning Commission (NPC) undertook a comprehensive investigation and published a report with suggestions.
According to the NPC assessment, timely completion of projects has been a serious issue for the past 13 years. Given that concerns on the matter were raised frequently, the NPC investigation also incorporated the capabilities of contractors tasked with public projects.
What is in the study?
The NPC said that efforts have been made to find out the root of the problem by concentrating the study on how such scenarios originate and the expertise of the contractors engaged in building roads and bridges, among other public infrastructure projects, in line with rules and regulations.
According to the report, both the government and the contractors are to share the blame. The study conducted under the coordination of NPC acting Vice Chair Dil Bahadur Gurung pointed out several errors and flaws on part of the contractors.
The study confirms while a small number of infrastructure projects are finished ahead of schedule in Nepal, the majority of projects do not meet contract deadlines and even miss them frequently. Though construction companies spend a majority chunk of public institutions' development budgets, numerous projects are plauged with swelling contruction costs because of a lack of timely work.
Additionally, construction firms increasingly hold onto a lot of contracts but do little actual work. The majority of the transformative projects of national pride should be completed within the first five years, according to the roadmap of long-term vision. Though the government's role in boosting output and productivity by constructing high-quality public infrastructure is considered important, numerous projects have not been finished in the allotted time.
Capabilities of contractors
The NPC study has raised questions about effectiveness of the firms tasked to complete projects. According to a survey of projects costing over Rs 500 million to build, the majority of such projects did not get completed by the agreed deadline. This is directly linked to construction companies' effectiveness in itself.
The study concluded that contractors that exhibited skillful work under one contract could not present the same under other contracts. The NPC claimed that contractors not upgrading their technical expertise and yet occupying contracts was one of the primary causes for delays in finishing construction projects. More, lack of detailed study to for the contracted projects was another reason for the same.
The study has shown that the construction of projects in Nepal has been delayed due to lack of will, on part of the government and the construction companies, to address and resolve uncertainties evolving in such projects. According to the report, even the government side's apathy to promptly resolve uncertainties emanating during construction of public projects further exacerbate the issue.
Conclusion of study covering past 13 years
The NPC examined the implementation status of contracts and subsequent deadline extensions of public projects such as roads and bridges, among others, from 2065/066 BS to 2078/079 BS to evaluate the capabilities of the cotractors.
The study also gave due attention to geographical accessibility for the contracted projects, availability of construction materials, issues related to compensation, forest and environment, among others.
The research report states, "The expertise of contractors and experience of human resource is vital. There is need for enhancing the capacity of construction companies as well as establishing coordination among the agencies responsible for public construction works." The report added if the present system persists, nothing would change.
The research recommended monitoring the mobilization of advance payment provided after the contract agreement is signed and recovery of such large sums of money along with interest in coordination with banking channel if contractors are not found to be utlizing payments for the prescribed activity. The report also recommended a legal arrangement for filing of financial statements on a quarterly basis.
According to the study, companies securing several contracts were found not investing initial budgets in the same project. Therefore, the study recommendeds monitoring mechanism for advance amount disbursed to contractors.
Additionally, factors such as type of construction project, the cost and level of expertise of the construction firms, background information, money, project designs and the accessibility of equipment and supplies, among others, should be closely monitored.
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