KATHMANDU, AUGUST 24The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has directed the local levels to strictly adhere to the existing Public Procurement Rules, 2007, while carrying out development activities through the user's committee. 'Equip local levels for better service to public' Public Procurement Monitoring Office to operate 'Procurement Clinic' in near future It follows a recent instruction from the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority regarding the irregularities of elected local representatives in collusion with the user's committee on the pretext of implementing development activities.The local authorities were found to be giving more advance payment to the user's committee concerned than the amount permitted by law, only to serve their personal interest through embezzlement of state funds. The anti-graft body had stressed on the full observance of rule 5 of the Public Procurement Rules, which says, "A public entity, including local level, may give advance payment not exceeding one-third amount of the contract price to such a user's committee for the purpose of carrying out development activities through the latter.

The public entity shall have to settle advance payment before the payment of the final installment."However, many local authorities have been giving more than half of the contract price in contravention of the law.According to a notice published by the MoFAGA on its website, the local levels have also been told to ensure that the rates of electricity cost, sanitary work, transportation cost, procurement of machinery tools and channel gate fitting are incompatible with the rate determined by the district concerned.A version of this article appears in the print on August 25, 2023, of The Himalayan Times. .

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