KATHMANDUPATI : The government has decided to begin the process of blacklisting two contractors who had failed to supply chemical fertilizers.
A meeting of the government-owned Krishi Samagri Company Ltd (KSCL) held on Sunday morning decided to seize the guarantee submitted by Shailung Group and Hobiko Multiple, and to recommend the Public Procurement Monitoring Office to blacklist them for their failure to supply chemical fertilizers.
The blacklisting from the PPMO will disqualify these companies to participate in any government contract for a certain time. Shailung is a company owned by Sharada Prasad Adhikari, while Homnath Koirala is the owner of Hobiko.
According to a source at the KSCL, the government has decided to seize a guarantee of Rs 50 million from each of these two companies, who had been awarded contracts to import and supply chemical fertilizers. However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development is going to take a formal decision in this regard, according to the source.
According to the contract, the two companies were required to import chemical fertilizers by September 5, but had sought an extension of the deadline. Though KSCL had allowed seven companies to supply 350,000 tons of chemical fertilizers, it has received only 200,000 tons so far.
Agriculture Minister Ghanashyam Bhusal has warned that the government will take action against those suppliers who do not import fertilizers in time. He has already said that these two suppliers will be blacklisted after seizing their guarantee.
The government is borrowing 50,000 tons of urea from Bangladesh. Minister Bhusal said that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s telephone conversation last week with his Bangladeshi counterpart has helped in facilitating the import of urea from Bangladesh. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh has positively responded to the request of Nepal to supply 50,000 tons of urea to ease the acute shortage of the fertilizer during the crop season.
