DHARAN, Jan 22: The construction of Maternity Child Health (MCH) Center building at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) is being carried out without carrying out 'proper' cost estimation.
A probe panel formed two months ago by the 40th Senate of BPKIHS has revealed that the cost estimate and bidding process for the construction was approved by the vice chancellor alone without following the due process.
The report mentions that BPKIHS claimed the grant amount before estimating the cost and it has also not sent any related documents to the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, and National Planning Commission.
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The three-member probe panel was formed under the coordination of the then Health Secretary Dr Kiran Regmi to study the controversial construction of MCH building.
The controversial bidding process was called by former VC Dr Balbhadra Prasad Das at the end of his tenure. Dr Das arbitrarily estimated the requirement of Rs 2.18 billion budget for the construction and approved a tender of Rs 2.176 billion. Out of the total budget, Rs 720 million has already been released, according to the report.
"The bidding process was against the rules," it says. "Though it should have been approved by the senate as per its regulation, it wasn't done so."
Though the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority confiscated documents related to the construction process, it is yet to conclude investigation and take further action.
Meanwhile, the construction of a 200-bed cardiology center and a 200-bed oncology center is in limbo after BPKIHS scrapped the tender notice stating the delay in release of additional budget from the ministry despite the release of Rs 33.7 million to the consultancy company just for making designs.
The consultancy companies for these two projects were hired by present VC Dr Raj Kumar Rauniyar. "The construction of these centers is yet to begin," said Sharma. "The panel has recommended forwarding the related files to the senate," he added.
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