Kathmandu. The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has directed the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation to immediately start the tender process of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multipurpose National Pride Project as per the amended Act and Regulations.

The directive was issued in a meeting held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers at Singha Durbar at 11:00 am on Monday.

Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Dr. Jagadishwar Karmacharya, Director General of Irrigation Department Dinesh Rajauria, Project Chief Krishna Prasad Rijal and engineers of the project were present in the meeting.

In the meeting, the Ministry expressed commitment to forward the necessary process to complete the national pride projects on time.

Earlier, the tender process of the project was found to be in violation of the prevailing Act and Regulations. Now, the Prime Minister’s Office has directed to start the tender process immediately as per the amended Act and Regulations.

The government had amended the Public Procurement Regulations on August 19 and added Rule 26A to the main regulations. According to the new provision, the technical and financial proposals for large and complex construction works estimated to cost more than Rs 1.5 billion must be mentioned in the tender documents.

The government has stressed the need to complete the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Project, a national pride project, on time and to forward the contract process in a legal manner.