Prakash Chandra Lohani: That´s not true. In fact, we directed the government to adhere to the Public Procurement Act 2063 BS. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) was supposed to open the tender on December 15, 2009. On December 14, MoFA canceled the whole process. She [Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala] has no right to do that. None of the four companies in the bidding had withdrawn from the process.
Myrepublica.com: On the directive to the government was to revive the canceled bidding process. But there is no* provision in the Public Procurement Act to revive once cancelled bidding process. What was the legal basis of the PAC directive then?
Lohani: She (Koirala) was already saying that she was going to it. She was taking it as a fait accompli. The spirit of our directive is that everything has to be done on a competitive basis. When we got the documents we found that she had not done anything. She had not even contacted anyone. So we asked to go back to the first decision.
Myrepublica.com: The government has maintained that by the time the PAC gave its directive it had already begun contacting India through diplomatic channels. Would not have it been difficult for the government to return from the matter while respecting the PAC decision.
Lohani: They may have been talking but they had not signed anything. We can talk to anybody. But what matters is when we sign documents. They had not signed anything. When we instructed the foreign minister said she was sending someone to India. We said that was alright but repeated that everything should be on competitive basis. So if you are going to have a Government to Government deal it should be on a competitive basis. It has to keep in touch with other interested governments as well.
Myrepublica.com: Since Nepal has already signed the agreement with India will it not be damaging to withdraw?
Lohani: I think India will understand the situation. Some 15 years ago we had the Tanakpur Agreement. There was tremendous hue and cry here. Parliament raised questions. The whole agreement was refined in many ways. These things happen. The sky has not fallen.
Myrepublica.com: Any decision of a parliamentary committee is only advisory to the government, not mandatory for implementation in a parliamentary system. Then why the PAC is angry over government for not respecting its direction?
Lohani: It depends on the language used. In many studies that we do they are advisory. Most of them are suggestive, in fact. For example in Mid-Marsyangdi Project we did the study and suggested many measures that the government could do to improve the performance of Nepal Electricity Authority. Normally one expects that the government follow some of its recommendations. Well in the MRP case these are not just recommendations but directives. If the government did not follow the directives we do not have any legal authority to penalize the government. Anyway, they will have to face it politically.
Myrepublica.com: Friday’s direction to the government to give MRP project on competitive basis has come two days after the Supreme Court took up the matter. Is not it contemptuous to discuss the issue that has already been under the court’s consideration?
Lohani: Not at all. We started discussing this case before it went to court. Otherwise parliament will not be able to discuss anything. Whenever a case comes to us someone will go to court and get an order. Does this mean we should stop analyzing and discussing issues? No. The point is there are times when contradiction between the instructions of the judiciary and of parliament is possible. It then becomes a constitutional issue. It will go back to court, which will decide.
Myrepublica.com: Indian company has already started procuring raw materials and equipment needed for Nepali MRPs?
Lohani: I think they will wait for irrevocable Letter of Credit (LC). This is what is written in the agreement. Unless they know that they have their credit there I don’t think they will go ahead with this. Besides they know that all these issues are raised in the parliament.
Myrepublica.com: Will withdrawing from deal at this stage affect our relations with India?
Lohani: No, not at all. India knows how legislature functions. There are times when parties in the legislature object to the government deal. Even in Nepal many provisions in Tanakpur Agreement were changed after issues were raised in Nepali parliament. India had responded to it.
*(Added)
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