In the projects totaling worth over Rs 70 million, Ghorahi Sub-metropolitan City hired bulldozers, rollers and excavators from municipal engineer Ramdhan Shrestha’s company. Since competition was ruled out, the construction cost rose exponentially.
Devendra Basnet : Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal
Githepani dam constructed in Ghorai-18 is worth Rs. 2.1 million
Ghorahi Sub-metropolitan City in Dang spent Rs 2.1 million last fiscal year to build a dam at Githepani in Ward 18. At the same place, the Tulsipur-based Wider Irrigation Project had constructed a big dam two years ago at the cost of Rs 9.64 million.
To build a new dam where one existed already, the sub-metropolis was found to have hired the equipment owned by Jaya Manakamana Private Limited, a company owned by the municipal engineer Ramdhan Shrestha, at rates costlier than the government’s without holding a competition. This has shot up the cost of the dam threefold.
The Dang Equipment Office of the Department of Roads has set the hourly rent of dozer at Rs 1,050, roller Rs 1,000 and excavator Rs 1,575, and tipper Rs 7,700 daily. However, according to Githepani Dam Construction Committee Secretary Suraj Budha, the Jaya Manakamana excavator was paid Rs 5,500 per hour, more than three times the government rate.
The private company charged roller rent Rs 5,000 per hour, five times the government’s rate. The per hour dozer rent also exceeds the government rate by more than Rs 2,500. These equipment from the Jaya Manakamana were used for 21 days.
According to Gopal Prasad Ghimire, a contractor in Dang, the payments made to Jay Manakamana by the construction committee exceed many times not only the government rate but also the going rate. Had the machinery been used with competitive bidding, the dam would have cost much less, Ghimire argues. “Charging Rs 5,500 an hour for an excavator is too high. Any excavator can be hired currently for Rs 3,000 an hour.”
According to Ghimire, private bulldozers are available in Dang for rent as low as Rs 1,800 per hour. Committee secretary Budha says the verbal agreement of the sub-metropolis to use Jaya Manakamana’s equipment had led to the high costs in the machinery use. “We didn’t know the rates initially; the construction company forced high charges.”
According to Padam Sharma, senior vice-chairman of the Dang Association of Construction Entrepreneurs, the Githepani dam would have been built with Rs 700,000 had the equipment been hired at the going rate. “The dam has been built by scratching the stream. No pond is seen to have been constructed. Spending Rs 2.1 million on that bit of work is misappropriation of the budget,” Sharma argues.
In the past two years, Ghorahi Sub-metropolitan City built 14 small dams at a total cost of Rs 70 million. In the projects carried out through the local consumer committees, equipment were rented from the Jaya Manakamana without competition.
Ramdhan Shrestha, the Ghorahi municipal engineer who owns the Jaya Manakamana construction firm, agreed that his equipment were used in building the dam. He also owns a stone crushing business in Dang. He runs the Siwaj Concrete crusher plant on the Hapur stream.
Meanwhile, the local government has entrusted Shrestha with conserving all the ponds, dams and water bodies within its jurisdiction. “We didn’t know about the rent. Jaya Manakamana’s machines were being used for other dam works, too. The same equipment were used to build the dam here,” Secretary Budha said.
New dam to use up budget
In Ward 17, the Ghorahi sub-metropolis built a new dam last year at a cost of Rs 4.7 million, where a dam already existed. The 11 metre tall new dam is 50 metres away from the new structure. According to Kiran Chaudhary, chairman of the construction committee, machinery owned by Jaya Manakamana has been used here too. “We reached the construction contract with Jaya Manakamana as it has the whole set of equipment. We paid their hire rates,” said Chaudhary.
Engineer Ramdhan Shrestha’s crusher industry.
Jaya Manakamana charges different rates depending upon the project. According to Chaudhary, Manakamana charged his committee Rs 4,000 per hour of excavator use. The Githepani and Gulariya dam construction committees paid Rs 5,000 to Rs 5,500 per hour for using Manakamana’s excavators. “We got it cheaper than others,” said Chaudhary.
One year ago, Jaya Manakamana was paid Rs 598,000 for using its bulldozers at the Dhikpur dam construction site. The excavator charge totaled Rs 1.54 million and soil transportation charge Rs 340,000. Rs 297,000 was paid under the soil load and unload headings. Separately, Rs 225,000 has been mentioned as tipper charge for ferrying soil. Rs 116,000 has been listed as the expense of using workers to load and unload soil. The audit report breaks the total Rs 637,000 cost of dumping the soil down to the four headings.
Bhim Bahadur Chaudhary, treasurer of the construction committee, says while the audit report cites tipper use for transporting soil and tractors were also used for the purpose. “The load-unload expenses are for tractors, not tippers,” he says, adding that five tractors were used for the job for 17 days paying a daily rental of Rs 7,500 per vehicle.
In Dang, the maximum daily tractor rental now is Rs 4,000. Since the dam project paid higher prices, tractor use cost an additional Rs 297,000. Ghimire, the construction equipment supplier, says: “Charging Rs 7,500 per day for a tractor is too much.”
Construction Committee Chairman Chaudhary said Jaya Manakamana’s excavators were employed for a total of 280 hours at the rate of Rs 5,500. This cost the committee Rs 700,000 more than the government’s rate.
“The excavator charge also appeared to have been paid extra,” said senior vice-chairman Sharma. “The maximum excavator hire charge is Rs 3,000.”
The bulldozers said to have been used at the hourly rate of Rs 2,200 were paid Rs 598,000 for 224 hours. The payment is nearly twice the government-approved rate. At the daily charge of Rs 15,000, the payment for tipper was Rs 225,000 for 15 days.
According to the Swargadwari Tipper Operators’ Committee, the maximum daily rental of a tipper does not exceed Rs 12,000. The government approved rate is only Rs 7,700. Suresh Pokhrel, secretary of the Dang Tipper Committee, said: “No matter how far the site is, daily tipper rent is not more than Rs 12,000.”
The cost of operating rollers at the Dhikpur dam—Rs 951,000 at Rs 5,000 hourly rate—was also paid to Jaya Manakamana. The government’s rate for per hour roller use is Rs 1,500.
Rs 4.7 million was spent to build the 80 metre log, 11 metre tall dam. The sub-metropolis funded Rs 4.5 million while labour contribution accounted for the rest. Local contractors find the cost unusual. Vice-chairman Sharma of the contractors’ association says: “Such a dam can be built with Rs 2 million maximum.”
At Gulariya in Ghorahi 17, a small dam had been built at the cost of Rs 1 million. Two years ago, the sub-metropolis built another structure nearby at the cost of Rs 6.1 million. Construction committee Chairman Dipak Chaudhary says: “After people drowned at the old dam, the new one was built.”
According to Chaudhary, earthmovers from Jaya Manakamana were used in this project too. Excavator was hired for Rs 5,000 per hour. Rollers, which are available to hire for Rs 1,000 per hour, were employed at the rate of Rs 5,000 an hour.
Tippers available for Rs 7,000 were used at the rate of Rs 17,000 daily for the dam. According to Chaudhary, three tippers from Jaya Manakamana were used during the construction. Tractors available for Rs 4,000 per day were paid Rs 3,000 per hour.
According to Chaudhary, five tractors were used while building the Gulariya dam. According to the committee, Jaya Manakamana was paid Rs 3.7 million out of the Rs 4.7 million total cost of Dhikpur dam.
Jaya Manakamana was paid Rs 3 million from the Rs 6.1 million Gulariya dam project. The amount paid to the construction firm from the Rs 2.1 million Githepani dam totaled Rs 1.2 million. According to Ghorahi Sub-metropolitan City, from the 14 municipal dam projects worth Rs 70 million, more than a half of the funds went to Jaya Manakamana.
After growing complaints of the equipment supplied by engineer Shrestha being used at exorbitant rates, the Ghorahi government has decided that user committees are free to hire equipment independently. “Committees will now be able to rent equipment after publishing a notice. Nobody is bound to use equipment from a single company,” said Mayor Narulal Chaudhary.
Good at work, says mayor
The Ghorahi municipal office has adopted a policy for contracting projects worth up to Rs 1.5 million while projects such as water body improvement, and dam and pond construction that are worth over Rs 10 million need to be carried out through user committees. Exploiting this policy, the municipal engineer and crusher operator Shrestha had a monopoly over the bigger projects.
“Huge sums were misappropriated while renting equipment for dam construction,” says Bharat Aryal, spokesperson for the Ghorahi sub-metropolis. “Therefore, we now have a policy of competitive bidding for renting equipment.”
The faulty municipal policy is blamed for the excessive costs of completing the 14 projects in the past two years. “We have spoken against this policy duplication but the sub-metropolis has not changed it,” says Ramesh Pande, ward chairman of Ghorahi-15.
Besides the Gulariya, Githepani and Dhikpur dams, Ghorahi also built the Chepe dam on the border of wards 1 and 2 through a committee at the cost of Rs 20 million in the past couple of years. In Ward 13, the Jyamire dam was built at the cost of Rs 16.5 million and the Jangkholi dam in Ward 12 for Rs 5 million. In Ward 2, the Balampur pond has been built at the cost of Rs 4.5 million while the Lakhbare dam in Ward 5 cost Rs 2.6 million.
In Ward 10, Thatigaun and Dundra Narayanpur dams were built at the cost of Rs 1.4 million. In Ghorahi Ward 16, two upper and lower dams were built at the expense of Rs 3.1 million. In Ward 17, the Arogya dam has been built with Rs 1.2 million.
The Dabari dam was built in Ghorahi-17 for Rs 700,000. Equipment from the Jaya Manakamana Pvt Ltd used in these projects were all exorbitantly charged. Mayor Chaudhary argues that it was easy to hire the company’s machines also because all the committee’s projects were executed by Jaya Manakamana. “Consumers may have trusted Jaya Manakamana also for its expertise. I have no idea besides this,” he says.
