Law Minister Explains Ordinance for Public Procurement Act

Kathmandu. Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Sovita Gautam, said that an ordinance related to the Public Procurement Act had to be brought to immediately remove the legal complexities seen in the Public Procurement Act.

Responding to questions raised during the Friday meeting of the House of Representatives by Nepali Congress MP Khadak Bahadur Bishwakarma, the main opposition party, who had proposed that the Public Procurement (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2083, be rejected, she gave this clarification.

Minister Gautam claimed that the government had eased the work of solving the pressing problems of the people by amending the act, which has been questioned by the parliament and MPs for a long time. She also drew the attention of the MPs to the fact that if there are any shortcomings or problems in the ordinance, they can be improved when the replacement bill comes.

Justifying the introduction of the ordinance, she said, 'The parliamentary session has closed. It has been raised many times in this parliament that the Public Procurement Act has always been causing difficulties. So, how to address it? Considering how to address it, the government, moving at its current speed, decided to bring an ordinance to amend the provisions related to public procurement quickly. There are places to adjust when bringing the replacement bill.'

Law Minister Gautam also clarified that the government is moving forward at a rapid pace to solve the problems of the people without allowing delays in development and administrative work. She urged for constructive cooperation in this step taken to ensure that development work does not stop due to the procurement process.