Public Procurement Monitoring Office instructed to give opinion on buying of wide-body planes

Setopati

2018-11-28 14:07:03

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the parliament has instructed the Public Procurement Monitoring Office to give its opinion on whether the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) violated the Public Procurement Act while procuring two Airbus A 330 airplanes. The PAC after a meeting at the Singha Durbar on Wednesday has instructed Secretary at the office, under the Prime Minister's Office, Madhu Prasad Regmi to give its opinion within seven days. The PAC had summoned Regmi to know if and how the NAC had coordinated with the office while procuring the wide-body planes. "The office has no official information about procurement of the wide-body planes. The NAC did not cooperate with us on the issue," Regmi told the PAC. "We are, therefore, not in a position to say much. We have to see if there has been competition in price and quality." He opined that seeking Rolls-Royce engines while inviting bids for the planes is against the Public Procurement Act. "They should have directly procured from the company if they wanted those planes," Regmi said. "Why did they invite bids for planes that have clocked up to 1,000 flight hours if they had to procure new planes? There is some mistakes in that." PAC Chairman Bharat Kumar Shah after listening to Regmi instructed him to provide all those things in writing within seven days.

Published Date: 2018-11-28 14:07:03

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