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Contract process of National Police Training Academy runs into controversy

KATHMANDU: The contract process of National Police Training Academy in Kavre, which is undertaken by Nepal Police, has become controversial after stakeholders raised question over the transparency of the tender process.

Firms involved in the construction works of the project has alleged involvement of Nepal Police in taking Rs 800 million cuts while awarding a bid for the construction of Kavre-based National Police Training Academy. The project is worth Rs 10 billion.

They have also claimed that the contract was awarded going against the Public Procurement Act 2007 without market competition by disqualifying three eligible companies including one government-owned Indian company.

The Nepal Police has awarded the contract to ACIL-RCPL joint venture of Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd and Roshan Construction Nepal. Preparations are going on to file a complaint against Nepal Police, including Consultant CPWD. Three companies Gayatri-Amar JV, Giridhar Lal -Ank JV, UPRN-Sharma JV at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority and Indian Embassy in Nepal claiming that the contract was awarded illegally.
Only the two engineers of the consultant CPWD, Naga Prasad and Ahijit Roy had the knowledge of the exact cost estimate of the Academy. The contract was awarded to the ACIL-RCPL joint venture, quoting 0.43 percent less. In this contract the disqualified companies was bidded for 1 billion less cost then tender awarded company.

According to the notice published in Gorkhapatra daily on May 8, 2022 among the four bidders, the National Police Academy had rejected three companies without evaluating their bid saying only one was eligible. The participating companies have accused that they were not even allowed to present their clarifications.

UPRNL-Sharma JV, Gayatri-Amar JV, Giridharlal-Anama and ACIL-RCPL JV had taken part in the bid for the construction of the National Police Academy of Nepal Police to be constructed at Kavre. But Alhuwalia and Roshan Construction had managed to get the bid without being involved in the bidding process because the authorities were paid Rs 800 million as commission, the other bidders have accused.

Sharma of UPRNL claimed that the bid was awarded through a secret deal paying CPWD 400 million and Nepal Police 400 million. They have claimed that AIG Mukunda Raj Acharya, who is also the Executive Director of National Police Academy, Arun Sahi of Alhuwalia and Naga Prasad and Ahijit Roy of consultant CPWD India had held secret dealings. Sanjay Kumar Gupta is the chairman of Roshan Construction while Hari Bhagat, Achyut Raut and Arbinda Kumar Jha are the directors. Roshan Construction is a controversial company involved in the construction of bridges on the Postal Highway.

The District Administration Office of Rukum had proposed the Home Ministry to blacklist Roshan Construction for delaying the construction of the buildings under the New City project while Alhuwalia company of India is also in a process to be blacklisted for banking issues. Some 26 years ago the government had agreed to develop the Police Training Academy through grants. But the construction works could not take momentum due to the long debate on who should prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and draft the bid for the construction works.

Finally the bidding process moved ahead after the Nepal government accepted the DPR and the draft of the bid developed in India. Indian had agreed to provide grants for the construction of the Academy some 27 years ago. The agreement was signed during the India visit of the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Government has already acquired the 42.4 hectares of land at Sunthana (Dalinchok) of Panauti Municipality-6 of Kavre district.

Ramesh Sharma, authorised person of UPRNL-Sharma Joint Venture has objected the bid awarded to Roshan Construction having no experience in building construction and rejecting the Sharma Construction Pvt Ltd that constructed Nepal’s largest hospital-Bir Hospital in 3.5 billion on time and Indian government’s company Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited.

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