Kathmandu, June 18 -- Pappu Construction, a controversial construction company, was supposed to get the contract to construct a new building for the Nepal Rastra Bank in Baluwatar. But it was denied the contract through administrative measures, including blacklisting threat, despite quoting the lowest price.

Firstly, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), which had taken the responsibility of reconstructing a new building after the earthquakes in April 2015, did not take any immediate decision on awarding the contract even after opening the financial bid on September 23 last year. Among 12 bidders in the race, the SRBC Pappu JV with a quoted price of Rs2.06 billion was selected after technical evaluation.

As Pappu was in the news ...