Minister Directs Immediate Re-Tendering of Cancelled Road Projects

Kathmandu. Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation; Physical Infrastructure and Transport; and Urban Development Kulman Ghising has directed authorities to immediately initiate a new tender process to ensure the completion of road projects whose contracts have been terminated.

At a meeting reviewing the first-quarter progress of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport for the current fiscal year 2025/26, along with the ministerial-level Development Problem Resolution Committee, Minister Ghising said the remaining works of cancelled contracts must be measured, required budgets assessed, and new tender procedures launched without delay.

According to the ministry, 43 contracts for road and bridge construction under the Department of Roads were terminated after projects remained stalled for years. The total value of these cancelled contracts amounts to NPR 2.97 billion.

Minister Ghising said that funding sources for the cancelled projects had already been secured, and therefore no immediate financial obstacles exist. He added that if any issues arise, coordination and facilitation would be carried out with the Ministry of Finance. He also assured that uncertainties surrounding multi-year agreements for bridge construction would be addressed.

Pointing to persistent problems in bridge construction, particularly in the Tarai–Madhesh region, the minister said many bridge projects remain incomplete. While road construction can proceed within fixed annual budgets, he noted that bridge projects require multi-year commitments and cannot be completed under short-term budgeting.

The minister acknowledged that first-quarter progress among agencies under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has been lower than expected. He stressed the need for improvement in the coming months, noting that even projects funded through foreign assistance—where budget constraints are not an issue—have shown weak progress.

Ministry Secretary Keshav Kumar Sharma also said the first-quarter performance was not encouraging and emphasized the need to promptly manage re-tendering processes to prevent cancelled projects from being left unfinished.

For the current fiscal year, NPR 151.75 billion has been allocated to agencies under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. Of this, NPR 48.52 billion was earmarked for the first quarter, but only NPR 11.64 billion was spent, accounting for just 7.67 percent of the annual budget and 24 percent of the quarterly allocation.

During the meeting, the ministry highlighted several ongoing challenges, including issues in project selection and prioritization, budget allocation, unresolved road right-of-way for national pride projects due to delays in official gazette notification, frequent local obstructions at construction sites, and uncertainty in re-tendering terminated contracts.