Lumbini Provincial Hospital Building Construction Faces Budget Shortage Despite Satisfactory Progress

Butwal. The construction of the state-of-the-art building of Lumbini Provincial Hospital, declared a 'Provincial Pride Project' by the Lumbini Provincial Government, is in full swing. Although the construction progress is satisfactory, there is a budget shortage to pay the construction company. The construction company has been working on credit since last August, as a large portion of the budget allocated for building construction in the current financial year (2082/083) was spent on paying arrears from the previous year.

According to Engineer Chhabiraj Pokharel, Chief Executive Officer of Lumbini Province Infrastructure Development Authority, bills worth approximately 83 crore rupees submitted by the construction company have not yet been paid. 'A budget of one billion rupees was allocated in this financial year, but work worth approximately two billion rupees has already been completed,' Pokharel said. The Provincial Government had allocated a budget of one billion rupees for the hospital building construction in the current financial year. Of this, 8 crore rupees were spent on paying arrears from the previous financial year. Pokharel stated that the remaining 15 crore rupees were not enough to cover the construction expenses for a long time. The contract for the hospital building construction was signed on Poush 26, 2080, between the Province Infrastructure Development Authority and the Indian construction company CAP SITE-ASHISH RELIGARET VENTURE and Nepali company Ashish Religare for 7 Arab 15 crore 94 lakh 73 thousand rupees. According to the contract, the project must be completed by Poush 25, 2085. Despite the challenges of delayed groundbreaking and budget shortage, the construction company has achieved 45 percent physical progress in 22 months, said Engineer Shovhat Banjade of the Province Infrastructure Development Authority. The target was to complete 47 percent of the work by the end of Ashad in the current financial year as per the contract. 'There is a possibility of exceeding the target. Although there is a problem with payment, the construction work is continuing at a fast pace,' Banjade said. So far, 27.33 percent of the total contract amount, i.e., 2 Arab 9 crore rupees, has been paid to the construction company. In addition, the company has already received 1 Arab 21 crore rupees as advance payment. Banjade stated that although the progress of the construction work is encouraging, challenges will arise in the implementation of large infrastructure projects if the budget is not managed in time. Although the contract with the Indian company for hospital construction mentions providing a certain budget every year, the budget has not been allocated as per the contract in any financial year so far. In the financial year 2080/081, 1 Arab 20 crore rupees were required as per the contract, but the government allocated only 60 crore rupees. Similarly, in 2081/082, only 1 Arab 80 crore rupees were allocated instead of the required 2 Arab 53 crore rupees. In the current financial year, only 1 Arab rupees have been allocated, whereas 2 Arab 22 crore rupees are required according to the work schedule.