INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 21The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of a letter written by Kathmandu-Madhes Fast Track
(Expressway) Project on December 12 asking China First Engineering Highway Company to come within 15 days to sign an agreement for one
section of the expressway project.
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A single bench of Justice Tanka Bahadur Moktan stayed the expressway project office's
letter till December 23 when the apex court will hear arguments from both sides to decide whether or not the court should continue its stay
The order was passed in response to a writ petition filed by Afcons Infrastructure Limited
The bench also issued show cause notices to the defendants telling them to furnish their written replies within 15 days.
Kathmandu-Madhes Fast Track (Expressway) Project had called international tender on June 1 to award one section of the expressway project
Thirteen companies responded, including petitioner Afcons Infrastructure Limited, India, which is a construction company.According to the
details of the writ petition filed at the SC by the Indian infrastructure company, the project office gave a notice on September 1, saying
that five companies, including the petitioner company, could take part in the final tender process.On September 15, the Public Procurement
Review Committee wrote a letter informing of a notice to extend time for opening of financial proposal, following which the Kathmandu-Madhes
Fast Track Project wrote to bidders saying that the opening of proposal deadline was extended.The bidders were informed again that the
proposal would be opened on November 7.The petitioner has stated in the petition that despite being declared initially technically unfit due
to conflict of interest, China First Highway Engineering Company Limited was given an issuance letter of intent to award the contract which
was issued on November 11 by the Public Procurement Review Committee saying the Chinese company quoted the lowest bidding price for the
project.The petitioner has filed a writ petition seeking annulment of the letter issued by the Public Procurement Review Committee to the
Chinese company.According to the petition, after the Chinese company was declared technically unfit, it filed a petition at the Public
Procurement Review Committee which decided to include it in the tender process.On December 12, the Chinese company was notified about
awarding of the contract and was asked to deposit Rs 2,310,776,800 as work performance deposit.It was asked to sign the project agreement
within 15 days.The petitioner has asked the court to nullify the December 12 letter issued by the project.The petitioner has argued that the
expressway project erred by awarding the contract to the Chinese company at a time when the issue was sub judice in the Supreme Court.A
version of this article appears in the print on December 22, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com