In his writ, Khadka had demanded that the Nepal Army’s invitation to award the contract to the Chinese company be stopped at the earliest.
After the hearing on December 6, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki and Justice Pushpalata Mathema on December 12 had ordered the Nepal Army to submit the original documents of the contract. But, the Nepal Army wrote a letter to the Chinese company—China First Highway Engineering Company Limited, on December 12 and asked the officials to come to the Nepal Army headquarters within 15 days for the contract agreement. Later, the Indian company—Afcons Infrastructure Limited on December 20 filed a writ against the decision of the Nepal Army. Nepal Army, in charge of the project, on November 11 had decided to award the contract to the China First Highway Engineering Co. Ltd, which was disqualified earlier in the bidding process. Later, the company was deemed qualified and included in the bidding process on November 6. A total of 12 companies had applied for the bidding process of ‘Double Lane Dual Carriageway Standard Expressway Road, Bridge, Slope Stabilization, Interchange, Toll Plaza and Allied Works, in the sixth package of the Kathmandu-Tarai-Madhesh Expressway. Based on Nepal Army’s technical evaluation, five companies were qualified for the bidding process. The China First Highway Engineering Co. Ltd, which was not selected in the bidding process, filed a case against the decision at the Public Procurement Review Committee. Later, the Committee issued a directive to include the Chinese company in the bidding process which was called on June 1. After the inclusion of China First Highway Engineering Co. Ltd, six companies were selected for the bidding process. Of the qualified companies, CFHEC won the contract to construct the fast track at Rs 18. 80 billion.
