August 2: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Legislature-Parliament has directed Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to cancel the tender for installation of 25MW capacity solar lights in Nuwakot and begin a new process. A meeting of the Legislature-Parliament on August 1 directed the NEA to cancel the tender after finding flaws in the tender process.

NEA had decided to construct a solar farm in Devigat and Battar at Nuwakot district with the support of World Bank. Five companies had applied for the bidding process in response to a tender notice issued by NEA. Instead of selecting the lowest bidder, the NEA  awarded the contract to a company quoting higher price, according to a complaint filed at the PAC.

Initially, NEA’s then Executive Director Mukesh Raj Kafle had decided to hand over the project to the lowest bidder, Pingawo and Heron Joint Venture (JV). But the complaint states that the NEA was involved in irregularities by cancelling the contract and giving it to Risen Energy, which had quoted Rs 680 million more than Pingawo and Heron Joint Venture.  

Parliamentarians have also accused former Energy Minister Janardan Sharma of misappropriation of funds in this project and have demanded filing a case against him at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

However, PAC chairman Dor Prasad Upadhyay said that the committee cannot call this a corruption case since the donor agency hasn’t yet released the fund. “We can move this case forward if we find any new facts related to this case,” he further said.

NEA is trying to speed up this project for the management of energy crisis in the coming winter. But the controversial decision taken by the NEA is certain to delay the project.

NEA has to start from the scratch for a new bidding process. The selection process will begin only after 35 days of issuing a tender notice. According to Upadhyay, if the NEA starts the process all over again right now, it will be delayed only by a month.

Folowing the instruction form PAC, the NEA has said it can start a new process only with the agreement of World Bank.

Meanwhile, a source at the NEA said Pingawo and Heron JV had not quoted the lowest amount.