Preparations to set up a laboratory to test construction materials for infrastructure projects have hit a snag as a major supplier of lab materials has delayed sending its experts, according to the National Vigilance Centre (NVC) that is overseeing the project.

Once set up, the lab will test construction materials such as cement, sand, iron and steel, stone, bitumen, concrete and blacktop of roads to ensure that they meet the set standards.

Enkay Enterprises, a New Delhi-based supplier, which has signed a contract with the NVC to install the equipment, is yet to send a team of experts as per the contract, said Pramila Devi Shakya Bajracharya, joint-secretary at the NVC, who oversees the technical audit section.

“We have been waiting for experts from the supplying company for than a month to set up the lab. They cited the lack of adequate human resources as the reason for the delay,” she said, while dropping a hint that the NVC might consider hiring others to install the equipment if the Indian supplier caused a further delay. 

The lab equipment, brought more than a year ago, have remained idle at the basement of the current NVC office, with some of them being shifted to an under-construction NVC building inside Singha Durbar. The slow pace of construction of the new NVC building also contributed to the delay. Its basement is, however, ready for the lab installations.

The new facility will allow the NVC to make its audit based on lab test rather than on mere documents and suggest improvements on the product’s quality.

In the last fiscal year, the anti-graft body had conducted technical audits of three dozen development projects including 12 National Pride Projects. It plans to conduct audit of  95 projects in the current fiscal.