Sunkoshi-Marin project cancels its dam tender three days before financial bids were due

Sunkoshi-Marin project cancels its dam tender three days before financial bids were due

The Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project cancelled the tender for its dam, powerhouse and waterway on Friday, October 30 (Kattik 13), Kantipur and Clickmandu reported on Saturday. Financial bids were due to be opened on Monday, November 2 (Kattik 16). Six firms had bid. Three passed the technical evaluation.

The notice cites Section 3(2) of the Public Procurement Act, 2063 and gives no detailed reason, Clickmandu reported. A senior divisional engineer told Kantipur the contract was cancelled as the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation had directed, and that the department would make any further decision.

Both outlets reported that police had taken the department's director general and the project director into custody, though they give different days for it. Kantipur said the two were handed over to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Clickmandu said they were released after agreeing to cancel the tender.

The tender was meant to replace the first dam contract. That contract, worth Rs 14.08 billion, was ended in Kattik last year and the contractor was blacklisted for three years in May, Kantipur reported then. Its Rs 2.4 billion performance guarantee has still not been recovered, Saturday's Kantipur report said. The project, which Kantipur puts at Rs 49.42 billion, is meant to irrigate 122,000 hectares in Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari and Dhanusha.

Why it matters: Physical progress had not reached 11 percent when 60 percent of the contract time had passed, Kantipur reported. Neither report says whether the work will be tendered again, or what happens to the three qualified bids.

NMB Bank's first-quarter profit rises 27 percent to Rs 1.16 billion

NMB Bank's net profit for the first quarter rose 27.11 percent to Rs 1.16 billion from Rs 916 million a year earlier, Clickmandu and Bizshala reported. Impairment charges fell 29.66 percent.

Citizens Bank returns to a first-quarter profit, Bizshala reports

Citizens Bank International made a first-quarter net profit of Rs 107.7 million, against a net loss of Rs 220.4 million a year earlier, Bizshala reported from its results. Impairment charges fell 37.93 percent to Rs 1.08 billion.

Thirteen of 14 premium IPO applicants have not filed updated accounts, Merolagani reports

Thirteen of the 14 companies seeking to sell IPO shares at a premium had not given SEBON updated FY 2082/83 accounts as of Kattik 11 (October 28), Merolagani reported. Only Century Energy had. Its pipeline holds 117 companies seeking to raise Rs 71.42 billion.

Mustang customs collections reach about Rs 11.5 billion against a Rs 9 billion target

Mustang customs, which clears trade through Korala, has collected about Rs 11.5 billion in the fiscal year so far against an annual target of Rs 9 billion, Kantipur reported. It passed the target by the end of Asoj, Meroauto reported then.

Mauritius agrees to go ahead with a government-to-government labour deal, Post reports

Mauritius has formally agreed to go ahead with a government-to-government labour arrangement with Nepal, The Kathmandu Post reported on Saturday. Its High Commission in New Delhi told Nepal's foreign ministry on October 29 and sent a revised draft memorandum of understanding. Nothing has been signed yet. Nepal is working through its own procedures to finalise the draft, the Post said.

The draft covers workers for manufacturing, construction, agriculture, tourism and IT. It follows the Employers Pay Principle, so employers and not workers bear the cost of recruitment. Nepal's labour minister proposed the arrangement to his Mauritian counterpart in Geneva in June.

Why it matters: Nepal Live reported on an earlier labour understanding with Mauritius in 2020, when the ministry put demand at about 5,000 workers a year. The Post gives no signing date and no worker numbers for the new arrangement.

Nawalparasi sugarcane farmers ask for Rs 1,000 a quintal

Sugarcane farmers in Nawalparasi want a minimum price of Rs 1,000 a quintal for FY 2083/84, against Rs 620 plus a Rs 35 subsidy last year, Kantipur reported. It reported no response from the government or the mills.

Rain grounds Lukla flights and blocks the BP Highway

Rain disrupted flights and roads on Saturday. Lukla flights did not operate, after disruption on Friday, and flights to Pokhara and Bharatpur were affected, The Kathmandu Post and Kantipur reported. Tribhuvan airport switched to instrument flight rules, with visibility at 3,000 metres at 8:34 am. About 150 domestic flights were on its schedule, an airport official said.

Landslides blocked the BP Highway at Pinthali and Gimdibensi in Roshi Rural Municipality on Saturday morning, and district police said it could not be reopened quickly while the rain went on, Merolagani reported. Debris fell on the Prithvi Highway at Parewa Bhir near Malekhu. In Gorkha about 20 metres of the Larke road washed away at Khorlabesi, the Post said.

In Nawalparasi, paddy that farmers had already cut was soaked by rain from Cyclone Arnab, Kantipur reported. The agriculture knowledge centre had told them not to harvest from Kattik 12 to 14 (October 29 to 31).

Why it matters: None of the reports read gives a loss figure, a count of cancelled flights or a time for the BP Highway to reopen. Losses to the soaked paddy have not been assessed, Kantipur said.