The NEA board had decided to pay Rs 1.09 billion to the civil contractor, China Gezhouba Group of Power Company (CGGC), for additional works occasioned by shrinkage in the project tunnel.
PAC also transferred its probe report to the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for further investigations. MoE, meanwhile, remained silent over the issue, saying the case was now under the CIAA scanner. “We could not proceed further in the case as it was also under investigation by the CIAA,” said Gokarna Raj Pantha, assistant spokesperson at MoE. CIAA is said to be investigating the case but it has not yet filed any case in court.
At the meeting on Sunday, PAC omitted previous talk of taking action against those involved in the payment decision last year. PAC Secretary Surendra Aryal informed that the PAC has also asked MoE not to apportion any blame on the PAC but rather to take an approach of addressing the problem as soon as possible. “MoE was neglecting the previous directive on the issue,” said Aryal adding that Energy Minister Rayamajhi had expressed commitment to a re-evaluation and sorting out of the problem. The controversial decision was made by the NEA board led by then energy minister Radha Gyawali.
Meanwhile, over 90 percent of project work has been completed so far and the government expects to complete it within 10 months under its Energy Development Work Plan – 2015, devised four weeks ago to address the ongoing energy crisis.
Multiple variations in expenditure on the project have nearly doubled the estimated cost as well as incurring time overruns.
Rajendra Kumar KC, a lawmaker who also headed the PAC’s probe panel on the payment last year, said MoE should no longer delay re-evaluation of the payment. Source: republica
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