Chinese technical team arrives Kathmandu for design works of Fast Track project

Kathmandu: A technical team of a Chinese company, which was awarded the contract for the tunnel under the Kathmandu – Tarai Expressway Project, has arrived in Kathmandu. A 14-member technical team arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday by chartered flight.

The team includes Poly Changda Engineering Corporation’s tunnel, highway engineer and manager. Santosh Ballabh Poudel, Brigadier General and spokesperson of the Nepali Army, said that the team arrived in Kathmandu to start the design work immediately. According to him, the team will start design work immediately.

In the second package, 1.37 km from Simpani in Dhedre of Makwanpur to Chalise Kholsi and 1.4 km from Ghattepakha in Lendanda to Bandrekholsi will have to be constructed in two tunnels and bridges.

An agreement worth Rs 28.53 billion was signed with the same company. According to the agreement, the team of the company has come to start the work after the army gave the work order. A construction agreement was signed between the company and the Nepal Army on April 13. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had directed to stop pre-qualification and start a new process saying that there would be no competition if only one company was selected in the package.

The committee had asked to stop saying that there might have been a big manipulation in the contract. The army has moved ahead with the construction in defiance of the committee’s directive saying that it is in accordance with the Public Procurement Regulations and the Act. A team of about six people from the company is already surveying the site. The army expects the work to pick up speed as soon as the company’s team arrives.

As the army could not build the tunnel on its own, it has signed an agreement with two Chinese companies to build three (about 6 km) tunnels on the expressway. Due to lack of experience, the contract for some special bridges including tunnels has been given to two Chinese companies in two packages.

The first package was commissioned by China State Engineering Corporation Limited. The package includes a 3,300-kilometer tunnel under construction at Mahadevdanda, a motorable bridge and a road section. The contract was awarded at a cost of Rs 21.61 billion. The construction company of the first package will also arrive soon, the army said. A team from this company is also conducting a survey.

The army has signed both the contracts in 3 years and 6 months. 6 months for design and 3 years for construction. There is a challenge to start the construction work after completing 6 months of design. That’s why this team came in the midst of the Corona epidemic.