Nepali Times
From The Nepali Press
Oil Corporation scandal



The Public Accounts Committee is investigating the Nepal Oil Corporation\'s "Oil Storage Project" that started in 1994 with the aim of building storage facilities for petroleum products nationwide but which has not been completed even till now. The project was planned after India\'s economic sanctions in 1989 caused a shortage of petroleum products. A sum of Rs 200 million had been granted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the project, and the contract was provided to an Indian construction company by the name of Bridge and Roof.

One of the contract terms was that the project had to start by June 1994 and be complete by December 1996. But the company couldn\'t complete the work and the deadline was extended with permission from the ADB for the first time till March 1997. When Bridge and Roof couldn\'t complete the work even within the extended term, the ADB formed an investigation committee to find out why the work wasn\'t completed. After a site visit, the committee discovered that none of the construction work was satisfactory and recommended termination of the loan.
Although the ADB has tried to opt out of the agreement it hasn\'t been successful and neither has the work ended till now. The project cost (initially-started with Rs 22 million) has now reached Rs 56 million. The Bridge and Roof company has demanded a compensation of Rs 20 million.

Work that was supposed to have been completed within a year and half has already extended for six years, causing losses to the nation. The Nepali agent for Bridge and Roof is said to be NEPICON. Among the various ADB-fiinded projects this is the only one that has taken such a long time to finish.


LATEST ISSUE
638
(11 JAN 2013 - 17 JAN 2013)


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