Dahal raps govt for revoking decision to award Budhi Gandaki to Chinese company

Published On: November 16, 2017 05:30 AM NPT By: Ramesh Kumar Paudel

CHITWAN, Nov 16: CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman and former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has taken strong exception to the decision of the government to scrap the agreement signed with China's state-owned company Gezhouba Group Co Ltd (CGGC) regarding the Budhigandaki Hydroelectricity Project.

Speaking at a function organized to unveil his election commitment paper in Bharatpur on Tuesday evening, Dahal said Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government committed a mistake by revoking the agreement reached with the Chinese company.

Dahal's cabinet had decided to award the contract to CGGC without soliciting competitive bids. A cabinet meeting on Monday had decided to withdraw the decision taken by the erstwhile Dahal-led government.

"This is a testimony that the government is not working for the country's economic development and prosperity, but for its parochial political interests," he said. Dahal said that it was wrong to revoke the decision taken by the former government as it was done in the presence of not only the company but also the representatives of the Chinese government.

"In the context of Nepal, Budhigandaki, which has been recognized as a national pride project, is an extremely ambitious project. The success of this project could have heralded economic revolution in the country. The agreement was reached after a long struggle. No matter on what ground this has been scrapped, it was absolutely wrong," he said.

Dahal also complained that although they are also in the cabinet, the government did not hold consultation with them before taking this decision.

"We are still in the cabinet thinking that we could also play some role in case there is a difficult situation. But the government is working unilaterally on most of the issues," he said while adding that the government had stopped consultation even it is constitutionally mandatory.

"The government would have already dismissed our ministers if it had that authority. But it has failed to do so. The reason why it has failed to do so is that the constitutional provisions have restricted it from doing so. But in case of Budhigandaki, the government did what it should not have done," he further said.