| Lamentations
BY Manahar Pun
Nepal has achieved a distinction of being perhaps the only country in the world with more contractor firms than the number of individual contractors. This is due to a bizarre rule reserving certain types of contracts to certain type of firms.
For example, Class A contractor cannot undertake any project of below Rs. 2 crore. If a contractor of such classification does not get big project, he is forced to remain idle. Therefore, about fifty percent class A contractors have formed a number of firms each under A, B, C and D categories to avoid remaining idle.
Moreover, the requirement to be prequalified and the process followed for this is even bizarre. The procedure is such that one can get prequalified by producing fake certificates of experience. Most importantly, the government officers responsible for selecting the contractors can and are bending the procedure to ensure that they can handpick the contractor of their choice. For example, if the contractor whom they want to give the job has a two year old vehicle, they put the condition that only those will be qualified who have similar vehicle not older than two years. For the same type of work, different officers put different criteria so that only those contractors meet the criteria that are preselected by them. Some offices regard contractors qualified for 15 years once they are qualified while there are offices that require contractors to be qualified every year.
Therefore, the contractors form their own informal groups of 6-7 contractors. Such groups have strong links with the officers and to be qualified it is necessary to be involved in such groups. The members of the group place seemingly independent bids but making sure that one of them has bid the lowest and gets the job. The others receive a compensation for their help. The qualifiers even call such contractors and teach them what documents, genuine or fake, to submit to become qualified. There is no mechanism to check whether the certificates are genuine.
This system has made it possible for the project officers to give the job to those who are ready to sign any document that the officers prepare. This way they are dividing the spoil between them. Major fake documentation is made while making the claims. So much so that the contractors and the officers collude and cause work stoppage by such methods as instigating the workers. Therefore, even the so called terrorist problems are often created by these people, not only by the real terrorists. Compensations received for such claims are not only related to the damage caused to the physical property. They are also related with the rental of the vehicles and the salary of the drivers of those vehicles. Thus sometimes, the claim amount is to the tune of crores of rupees per day. This also causes delay in the project completion, which gives another pretext to the contractor and the officers to inflate the cost of the job.
Contractors are blamed when the work proves to be substandard after some time of the completion of the project. But the reality of the situation is such that the cost estimates prepared by the offices are often less than what is required. It is done to suit the budget allocated. As a result, the contractors are compelled to compromise on the quality.
The so-called free competition is never a free competition. Rather it is a premeditated selection and there is no agency where one can go and lodge complaint for being disqualified in a wrong manner.
Some officers say that the policy to reserve certain level of projects for different categories of contractor. But that cannot be accepted as logical. If it is logical, we should also have a system wherein those who have passed Bachelor’s level should not be allowed to compete for a post below the Section Officer in the civil service.
Raising these points in the Contractors’ Association is of no help as Association is dominated by those who are benefiting from this system. In fact, a normal contractor who gets the job by fair means would not have sufficient time to devote to his job, then how can the office bearers of the Association manage time for the Association’s work.
The Association is granted excessive powers. If a contractor has to renew his licence, he has to get it recommended first from the District level association. In case the Association refuses to recommend, there is nowhere to go with the complaint of the injustice.
The government policy must ensure the protection of all the masses. It should refrain from providing tutelage to the contractors. This is because the competition dwindles if only the classified contractors participate in the tender bid. Therefore, the welfare of all the citizens lies in the open competition.
The government should not have such a system of disqualifying the contractors from making bids once they are provided the licence. Let a few of the contractors fail when they win tenders by quoting unrealistic figures. This will teach lessons to them and all the rest will start behaving properly.
(Pun is one of the Class A contractors)
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