CIAA officials say they have been busy dissecting the corruption complaints with high priority after many were lodged at their office, adding that the budget allocated was much more than initial estimates. The government had released over Rs 2 billion for infrastructure prior to the summit and the majority of procurements were awarded through fast-track bidding.  

“We are very concerned over the misuse of state resources. Some of our departments have already started probing into the matter,” said CIAA spokesperson Shreedhar Sapkota.

Corruption complaints filed at the anti-graft body state contractors overestimated the project and gobbled up millions of rupees while winning contracts through the fast-track bidding. The complaints have also raised question over the quality of work.

Despite having the knowledge that the country was playing host of the summit two years in advance, the government started infrastructure works, including road construction, overlay and construction of parks around the city just a couple of months before the event.  

The anti-graft body grew suspicious after a number of decisions that were supposed to be taken by the ministries were decided by the Cabinet “to avoid possible investigation against corruption”.  “The decision to allow fast-track bidding at the last moment has raised many an eyebrow. The intent of such decision was to compromise on quality of work, so we are testing quality of the projects,” said Sapkota.

Authorities, including the Good Governance and Monitoring Committee of Parliament, have drawn attention of the concerned ministries while issuing stern warning of action against any wrongdoings while completing the projects. Yet, some of the projects meant for the Saarc purpose are still incomplete and the authorities, who had vowed to make public expenditure details immediately after the summit, have not kept their words.