Govt prepares primary draft of DRR Policy

Kathmandu, Apr. 29: The government has prepared the preliminary report of the National Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Policy and Strategic Action Plan: 2017-2030.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) Saturday said that the new policy and action plan would incorporate the lessons learned from 2015 earthquakes and other recent disasters as well as initiatives on climate change adaptation and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"We have prepared the preliminary report of the National DRR Policy with consultations with key stakeholder organisations, and national sharing workshop in February this year," said Shankar Hari Acharya, under-secretary of Disaster Preparedness and Response Section at the Disaster Management Division at the MoHA.

The new policy and action plan is a move from a disaster response oriented legal framework, National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM 2009), and calamity relief to Disaster management and coordinated work for the improvement of overall disaster risk reduction and preparedness.

According to Acharya, the new policy and action plan has focused on disaster risk reduction, understanding risk of multiple disasters, mainstreaming DRR into development process, multi-hazard management and partnership among government, private sector, development partners and civil society.

The MoHA, Prime Minister's Office, National Planning Commission and key line ministries are putting their efforts together for the new roadmap for the post-2015 framework to address priorities under the Sendai Framework for DRR.

"A Working Committee, led by the Disaster Management Division, and six thematic working groups were formed to guide to policy formation process. Sub-national Consultation Workshops in Nepalgunj and Pokhara have been conducted while such workshops will be organized in Biratnagar and Kathmandu after local elections," said Acharya.

Likewise, district consultations were organized at Dolakha, Kailali, Panchthar, Nawalparasi, Gorkha, Jumla and Saptari.

During the group consultations, stakeholders have suggested adopting a clear communications and dissemination strategy and process needed to share the risk information, incorporate understanding of risk at school curriculum and make use of technologies such as mobile apps, websites, sms, radio and television.

"Likewise, they have suggested revision of building code and its strong implementation at the local levels, implementation mechanism for risk sensitive land use plan with incentives and penalties, and prepare guidelines for community contribution and mobilization for DRR," stated Acharya.

Suggestions include allocating at least 5 per cent of sector-wise budget for disaster risk reduction, retrofitting or reconstruction of critical infrastructures such as schools, health facilities, government and public infrastructure, relocation of settlements from high risk to low risk areas, and engaging private sector to identify and implement areas of joint DRR investments.

Nepal is prone to disasters such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, avalanches, epidemics, famines, windstorms and glacier lake outbursts.

Nepal will sign OBOR agreement soon: Mahara

Kathmandu, Apr. 28: Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara Friday said that Nepal would sign the China proposed 'One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative' agreement soon.

"The government is of the view that the OBOR is a very good initiative that helps the region to boost the economic and technical cooperation. We are in the final stage to ink this initiative from our side," he said while addressing a seminar on 'Belt and Road Initiative and South Asia'.

According to the DPM, as connectivity and trade are Nepal's priority, the country can benefit a lot from this initiative.

He also noted that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda in his recent visit to china proposed Kerung-Kathmandu-Pokhara-Lumbini railway to be a part of OBOR.

Chinese ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong said that the initiative's focus was on infrastructure development and policy stability.

"There should be political and policy stability from the central to provincial level in order to attract investment and move forward in development works. Development itself provides strong social base for political stability," she said.

She said that China would support Nepal in infrastructure development and international trade.

Yu stated that as a huge investment was needed for the infrastructure and connectivity projects, coordination and cooperation among the neighbours was needed.

China is creating links to South Asia through China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor.   

Former Nepal's permanent representative to the United Nations Madhu Raman Acharya said that OBOR was a win-win project for both China and South Asia.

"The South Asian Countries will gain from OBOR through economic corridors, trade, investment and tourism," he said.

According to him, OBOR is taken as a development alternative in Asia, and Beijing Consensus has been considered as the counter to the Washington Consensus.

Acharya said that all the five pillars of OBOR – policy coordination, infrastructure development and connectivity, trade facilitation, financial integration and people to people ties – were important for South Asia.

China has signed Memorandum of Understanding with 40 countries for the initiative and employed significant political, diplomatic and economic resources for this concept. Nepal is yet to sign the MoU.

Silk Road Fund, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, New Development Bank, China Development Bank and Exim Bank of China are providing financial support to the initiative.

Experts say that being a partner in the initiative, Nepal would have opportunity to diversify its international trade and reduce over-dependence of trade and transit on India.

Director of Institute of South Asian Studies, School of International Studies at Sichuan University Professor Dr. Dai Yonghong said that China was the largest source of FDI in the recent years and considered that it was responsibility to support neighbouring countries in their development and progress.

"South Asia has the largest market for infrastructure. As large amount money and expertise is needed for the development of such infrastructure, Chinese support will be meaningful in this regard," he said.

Economist Madan Kumar Dahal said that although gestation period for the OBOR would be relatively longer with binding critical constraints, the success of OBOR would be an unparalleled departure to establishing a 'new world economic order' ensuring economic prosperity of 4.4 billion population in the region. 

Most of hydel project are at risk: NEA

Managing Director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Kul Man Ghishing Friday said that most of NEA's hydropower plants are at high risks.

"Insurance is the best way for the risk management. Therefore there need a great awareness among the developers about the insurance options they can buy. At the same time, insurance companies also should enhance their capacity so as to provide insurance facility to large hydro projects," he said while addressing a workshop on 'Importance of construction insurance in hydro and infrastructure: Its understanding and practice in Nepal'.

The workshop was jointly organised by the Hydroelectricity Investment and Development Company Limited (HIDCL) and Nepal Hydropower Association (NHA) with an aim to create awareness among all stakeholders about the importance of insurance in hydroelectricity construction site or projects.

144 MW Kaligandaki Hydel Project. Photo: ADB

"We wanted to provide proper insurance procurement and management knowledge to the concerned parties and create interest among all stakeholders to be responsive towards insurance," said Chhabi Raj Pokharel, chief executive officer (CEO) of the HIDCL.

He stated that insurance was a way to save the investment, therefore policy makers and regulators should pay due attention towards it.

CEO of Premier Insurance Company Sudhyumna Upadhyaya said that insurance was required during construction and operation of the hydropower companies.

"They can buy insurance policies like Contractor's all risk, Contractor's plant and machinery, Marine transit, Erection all risk, and Advance loss of profit during construction, and Fire and allied insurance, Machinery breakdown insurance, and Consequential loss insurance (fire and allied, and machinery breakdown) during operational phase," he said.

According to Upadhyaya, price of insurance policies was determined by the location of the project, soil and rock condition, flood records, and re-insurance market capacities. 

NRA finds fault with Amnesty report

Kathmandu, Apr. 27: The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) Thursday said that its attention had been drawn to the Amnesty International report ‘Building Inequality: The failure of the Nepali government to protect the marginalised in post-earthquake reconstruction efforts, 2017.”

Issuing a press statement, the agency responsible for the post-quake reconstruction, said that it was taking proactive action to support vulnerable and marginalised survivors.

Saying that there was no denying of the sad reality that the reconstruction process was slow and could not pick up the speed as expected in the aftermath of the disaster, the NRA said, “But the government and NRA as its focal agency on reconstruction remain vigilant of the fact that disaster disproportionately affects the women, poor and marginalised communities, including people with disability. In order to help the marginalised and poor communities, the NRA has begun simplifying procedures to distributing aid.”

The Amnesty report said that the government failed to provide relief to the marginalised earthquake survivors, breaching both the Constitution and international human rights law.
“Tens of thousands of people, whose destroyed houses once stood on land that they do not own, have been locked out of the reconstruction programme. To receive a government rebuilding grant, an earthquake survivor must provide land ownership documents. Unable to prove they own the land on which they were living when the earthquake struck, or have their landlords formally acknowledge their residence, they have been denied reconstruction support to rebuild their homes,” read the report.

But the NRA has already submitted two proposals to the cabinet – to provide Rs. 200,000 grant to every household and to earthquake survivors without land ownership certificates and are living on public land.

The grant is being provided to support them to buy land to build a house.

A study to identify vulnerable settlements conducted under the leadership of NRA has recommended more than 2,751 families have to be relocated to safer places.

Nearly 10,000 households have also been identified as earthquake survivors without land.

Those families will be entitled an additional Rs. 200,000 per family grant on top of the Rs. 300,000 house reconstruction grants.

“In addition, the NRA has taken a series of measures to proactively assist the women, poor and the marginalised communities. Vulnerable communities receiving housing assistance from I/NGOs or government are eligible to receive an additional Rs. 50,000 from I/NGOs,” read the statement.

“Vulnerable communities opting for low cost housing can access the second and the third installment from I/NGOs even if they have received the first tranche of grant from the government together without hassle.”

'BFIs should create strategy to fight financial fraud'

Kathmandu, Apr. 27: Experts have said that the Nepalese banking industry should create a strategy and crew at the earliest in order to fight against financial fraud.

“A fraud is like a virus. You continuously fight with it, and new viruses keep on emerging. Therefore, the banks need to prepare a capable crew to fight against it,” said Ajay Shrestha, chairman of the Nepal Banking Institute (NBI) while addressing a conference on ‘Financial fraud’.

Executive director of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Laxmi Prapanna Niraula said that there was absence of a proper fraud reporting mechanism in most of the bank and financial institutions (BFIs).

“Banks should create a hotline or facilities for fraud reporting. However, most of the frauds were committed by the top management or in collusion with them,” he said.

President of the Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) Anil Keshari Shah stated that most of the BFIs did not have a full-fledged and vibrant financial fraud unit and well-equipped anti-money laundering team.

“We should wake up before there is a huge financial and reputation loss. There should be greater seriousness in countering financial frauds,” he said.

He warned the BFIs that if there was not sufficient preparedness in terms of fighting financial frauds, post-disaster remedy would be very costly.

Chief executive officer of the NBI Sanjib Subba highlighted the need for the BFIs to reflect on innovations that would be required to contain the happening of frauds on all fronts in banking.

“The objective of the conference is to raise awareness about the banking frauds and to orient the participants on the best prevailing strategic interventions in fighting the frauds,” he said.

Partner – Forensic Services at KPMG, India Suveer Khanna, head of Financial Crime Analytics Practice, Axis Bank Limited, India Rajendra Sankhlecha, and product head – Asia at Nexus Technologies Rajbir Singh presented papers on various aspects of financial fraud.

They made deliberations on various types of banking frauds like cyber fraud, ATM and card frauds, skimming, vishing, phishing, sim-cloning, syndicates and identity theft, and fraud trends and emerging threats.

They also highlighted the prevailing practices of detection of fraud events and fraud mitigation strategies.

The conference was organised by the NBI in association with Fintelekt, India.

BBB message reached villages: NRA

Kathmandu, Apr. 26:

Dr. Govinda Raj Pokharel, chief executive officer of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), Wednesday said that although there were many challenges in expediting recovery works, message of ‘build back better (BBB)’ had reached villages which has resulted in better understanding in people about the earthquake resilient houses.

Addressing a seminar on ‘From post-earthquake reconstruction to disaster risk reduction’, he said that the reconstruction body was putting its efforts to facilitate the quake-victim families by simplifying the procedures of grant distribution and house construction.

“We are aware that the reconstruction work has not been moving as fast as it should but we are expediting the process at multiple fronts. So far, about 31 per cent of the quake-affected families have begun to construct their houses,” he said.

Dr. Pokharel also said that the lack of human resources, construction materials and access to finance has affected the house reconstruction.

NRA spokesperson Yam Lal Bhoosal provided the latest updates on government’s reconstruction efforts and its renewed strategy for accelerating the pace of reconstruction.

“About 43,000 houses have been reconstructed and 35,651 families have applied for the second tranche of the grant. Likewise, 49,842 houses are under construction,” he said.

According to Bhoosal, the government has addressed about 142,000 grievances and supported 19,866 families with Rs. 100,000 to retrofit their houses.

Kimio Takeya, distinguished technical advisor to the president of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said that Japan could support in enhancing disaster risk reduction (DRR) resilience from its first-hand experience as an earthquake prone country.

He urged the government to invest in disaster preparedness in order to reduce the damage and loss of property and lives in disasters.

“The devastating earthquake has created a unique opportunity for Nepal for BBB. Therefore, it should learn from the disaster and activities so far and try to address it through pragmatic policy approaches and activities,” said Takeya.

Japanese ambassador to Nepal Masasi Ogawa reiterated that Japan would continue to support the BBB in Nepal.

Japan has committed Rs. 30 billion for reconstruction support to Nepal.

“Among JICA’s recovery assistance, housing and school reconstruction are the two major projects currently ongoing. Almost 10,000 people have been trained on quake-resistant housing,” said Jun Sakuma, chief representative of JICA Nepal.

JICA is supporting Nepal in the areas of school building reconstruction, and rehabilitation of heritage and public infrastructure such as hospitals, bridges, health posts, police offices and VDC offices.  

The seminar was organised by the NRA and MoHA with support from JICA to highlight progress and achievements in the last two years including JICA’s contribution in the areas of recovery and reconstruction works.

GDP to reach 7 per cent this year

Kathmandu, Apr. 25:

Nepal is likely to achieve the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate in the current fiscal year after more than two decades.

According to the estimates published Tuesday by Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), a national statistical organisation under the National Planning Commission (NPC), the country will witness GDP growth rate of 6.94 per cent at basic price in the fiscal year 2016/17.

It is a remarkable achievement against the growth rate of the last fiscal year.

GDP Growth Rate at Basic Price

The statistical body has revised the growth rate of the last fiscal to 0.01 per cent from the earlier estimate of 0.77 per cent.

"With the projected 6.94 per cent growth rate of GDP in the current fiscal, the GDP of the country at basic price will reach Rs. 2293.98 billion," said Ishwori Prasad Bhandari, director of CBS. 

The GDP at purchaser's price will be Rs. 2599.23 billion.

"The earthquake and blockade last year caused the growth rate dipped low in one-and-a-half decades. But, this year has been a fruitful year in terms of economic progress because of favourable monsoon and energy availability. Similarly, the manufacturing sector also witnessed a significant growth," said Chandra Kumar Ghimire, secretary at the NPC.

The country witnessed a growth rate of 5.4 per cent and 3.4 per cent in the FY 2013/14 and FY 2014/15 respectively.

Last time it achieved above 6 per cent growth rate in 2008, after the conclusion of Maoist insurgency. Similarly, there was a growth of 6.2 per cent in FY 1999/2000.

Nepal attained 8.2 per cent GDP growth rate in 1993/94.

The primary sector, consisting of agriculture, forestry, fisheries and mines, contributed 30 per cent to the GDP estimates for the current fiscal.

Secondary sector, consisting construction, industry, gas and water, contributed 14 per cent while the tertiary sector, including trade, hospitality, transportation, communication, financial intermediary, real state, health and other social sectors, contributed 55.99 per cent to the estimated GDP.

The service sector's growth rate is 5.3 per cent, 11 per cent and 6.9 per cent in the FY 2014/15, FY 2015/16 and FY 2016/17 respectively, while the manufacturing sector witnessed the growth rate of -0.01 per cent, -6.45 per cent and 2.6 per cent in the same period. 

Share on GDP by Broad Categories

"Due to the improved supply of electricity and less strikes and bandhs, the manufacturing sector performed quite well with 9.7 per cent growth. It had witnessed a negative growth rate of 8 per cent in the last fiscal," said Ghimire.

Likewise, increment in electricity, gas and water will be about 13 per cent, and construction sector will grow by 11.66 per cent.

Most of the sectors like mining, hotels and restaurants, transport and communication, and wholesale and retail trade are expected to perform well in the current fiscal as compared to previous fiscal.

The CBS said that the net fixed capital formation in the current fiscal will be Rs. 878.60 billion, and per capita GDP will be Rs. 90,521 or 853 US dollars.

Director general of the CBS Suman Raj Aryal said that the positive growth in most of the macroeconomic indicators showed that the country was at a remarkable economic growth trajectory.

GDP Growth Rate trend

Year	Rate (%)
1982/83	-3.0
1983/84	9.7
1987/88	7.7
1993/94	8.2
1999/00	6.2
2001/02	0.1
2007/08	6.1
2013/14	5.4
2014/15	3.4
2015/16	0.01
2016/17	6.94

Source: CBS

Jyotsna elected president of Gems and Jewellery Association

Kathmandu, Apr. 23: Jyotsna Shrestha has been elected president of Nepal Gems and Jewellery Association.

Likewise, Suman Man Tamrakar and Narendra Kumar Gupta were elected as the first and second vice-presidents respectively, and Shakti Kumar Begani was elected general secretary, Jaya Ram Pandey secretary, and Rishi Thakur treasurer.

The 5^th Annual General Assembly of the association elected Nirmal Jyoti Tuladhar, Riken Singh Maharjan, Pawan Kumar Agrawal, Urop Man Shrestha, Sunil Man Tamrakar, Sunit Agrawal, Jivan Thakur, Jugal Kishor Rathi, Mohan Shah and Pradip Man Tamrakar as the members of the working committee.

Jyotsna is the first elected female president of the association and will remain in the post for three years.

Recently, she has been elected as the Central Committee Member of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).

“I will work to improve the image of the gems and jewellery business and coordinate with other stakeholders for the development of this sector,” she said.

Govt to organze Start-up Summit

Kathmandu, Mar. 23: With an aim of facilitating the growth of start-up ecosystem in Nepal, the government has been planning to organise a two-day ‘National Start-up Summit 2017’.

The event will be organised on June 14 and 15 by the Ministry of Industry (MoI) in collaboration of Nepalese Young Entrepreneurs’ Forum (NYEF) and other non-government and private sector organizations.

According to the MoI, the first day of the summit will be community bootcamp.

“The summit is being organised to demonstrate that the government is serious in pursuing entrepreneurship through start-ups as an agenda of economic development and employment generation. We also aim to initiate a wave of start-up culture in Nepal,” said Minister for Industry Nabindra Raj Joshi at a press meet organised at the Ministry.

The Minister said that the event will also facilitate a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the importance of start-ups in national development and policy environment conducive for the start-ups to flourish.

The government had formed National Start-up Committee a couple of months ago to provide policy advisory and guidance to the government.

“This committee is comprised of national level stakeholders from various sectors, who are committed and are already playing significant role in fostering start-up culture in Nepal,” read a concept note published by the MoI.

The event will feature start-up barcamp, key note speeches, thematic panel discussions, initiatives talks, start-up showcases and networking events.

Barcamp is and informal gathering of start-up community where the community themselves get organized to discussion on various aspects of start-up opportunity and challenges.

Likewise, there will be panel discussions on the topics like start-up opportunities and challenges, legal and policy context for start-ups in Nepal, start-ups and internationalization and start-up in rural context.

The Ministry said that government representatives and policy makers, private sector entrepreneurs and associations, start-ups from districts, media, students and aspiring entrepreneurs, start-up representatives, civil society and donors, and bankers and investors will participate in the summit.

Lack of forms bar quake-victims from receiving grant

Chautara, Sindhupalchowk, Apr. 22:

Kamala Jyoti Giri of Gothpani in Chautara Sangachowk Municipality of Sindhupalchowk district has completed the construction of her house a couple of months ago. Her family has already moved to the new house.

But, her family has not received the second installment of the house reconstruction grant, Rs. 150,000.

Maiya Giri, another resident of the same village, began to construct her house about two months ago. Now, her house is completed up to the sill bar.

Her family has been trying to obtain the second installment of the grant which the quake-victim family is entitled to get after completing the house up to the DPC level.

But, her family is also failed to find the money so far.

Reason: the local bodies in Sindhupalchowk do not have enough forms to apply for the grant money!

“We have made several round of the government offices but failed to get the grant money. We did not get any forms to apply for the money,” said Bishal Giri, husband of Kamala.

Amar Bahadur Giri, a mason trained on earthquake resilient house construction, said that only 58 forms were sent to the village where more than 200 households desperately waiting for the grant.

Sugandha Subedi, an engineer deployed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the village, said that most of the families wanted to build their houses as soon as possible but delay in the disbursement of the grant money had forced them to halt the works.

Many of the residents of Gothpani and Diyale have begun the construction of their houses. Seven houses were completed in Gothpani alone.

Kamala’s family has spent Rs. 500,000 to build a single storey quake-resilient house.

“Most of the families here have obtained loan the money with 20 – 24 per cent interest rate. So, the delay in the disbursement of the grant money will result in increased financial burden,” said Amar.

Maiya’s family has spent Rs. 150,000 to finish the house up to the first beam in the wall.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) said that the government couldn’t send sufficient forms to the quake-hit areas as the printing of the forms was commenced late.

“There are not sufficient forms in the local bodies. But, wherever is demand, the government is sending additional forms as per the requirement,” said Rudra malla, chief of the Coordination Committee Secretariat at the NRA.

Central Project Implementation Unit at the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has the responsibility of form printing.

Malla urged the concerned local bodies to inform the CPIU at the MoUD, NRA or other government agencies if any support was needed in the reconstruction drive, including the forms.

The locals in the village have been also facing severe shortage water needed to build the house which has forced them to halt the construction works.

“Many springs were dried due to the earthquake in 2015. At least 7 springs in and around the village were dried up. It difficult to manage water for drinking so most of the houses under construction have to wait till the monsoon ends,” said Subedi.

In case they halt the works, construction can be resumed only in October, after the monsoon.

Sher Bahadur Thakuri, treasurer of Mahila Jagaran Krishi Samuha in Diyale said that the village urgently needed solution to water crisis. 

Visitors flock to trade fair

Kathmandu, Apr. 22: More than 75,000 people visited the Nepal International Industrial Trade Fair and Innovation Expo 2017 at the Bhrikutimandap.

According to the organiser, there was a trade transaction of Rs. 35 million in the first three days of the fair.

A scene from a stall at the trade fair

“More than 45,000 people have so far visited the fair Saturday alone. It had transactions of Rs. 4 million, Rs. 7 million and Rs. 24 million Thursday, Friday and Saturday respectively,” read a press statement issued by the Federation of Nepalese Cottage and Small Industry (FNCSI).

FNCSI president Shyam Prasad Giri said that visitors flocked to the fair braving the heavy rainfall on Saturday.

“Most of the micro, cottage and small entrepreneurs presented traditional products like dhaka, cashmere, ceramic and handicraft. We need to expand the enterprises of agriculture, non-timber forest product, herbs, natural fibre, gems and precious stone, alternative and renewable energy, information and communication technology, and other areas of comparative advantages,” he said.

There are 215 stalls in the fair of which 57 are related to scientific innovation, and research.

It has special women entrepreneur pavilion with 25 stalls, and it also features 10 stalls related to agriculture.

FNCSI has estimated that the fair would see the transaction of Rs. 60 million.

The Expo is organised by the FNCSI, Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Industry.

The 13^th edition of the expo kicked off Thursday and will run till Monday. 

‘EC working on war footing to manage logistics for polls’

Kathmandu, Apr. 21: Chief Election Commissioner Dr. Ayodhi Prasad Yadav Friday urged the government to hold dialogue with various political parties that are agitating against the election and create a better environment for the local election.

"The Election Commission is working on a war footing to manage the logistics for the polls. Ballot papers have already been printed and sent to the districts. Similarly, the voters' list is ready and voter identity cards have also been printed," he said while addressing a seminar on 'Coverage of election news in the mass media' here.

He said that the environment for the polls had been created as 83 political parties were registered with the ECN.

Dr. Yadav expressed the optimism that the Terai-based parties would also join the election campaign soon.

Earlier, he had said that the voter identity cards would be distributed from May 12, two day before the Election Day.

The CEC urged the journalists to promote women, Dalit candidates and those from the marginalised community.

"I am grateful to the media for its help in creating awareness among the people and creating an environment for the election. Had there been no media, progress towards holding the election would not have been achieved," he said.

However, he urged the media to be non-partisan and objective while covering the election and campaign of the political parties.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Central Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Tribhuvan University and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

JICA chief representative in Nepal Jun Sakuma said that the agency would provide continuous support for the development of the media sector in Nepal.

Keniichi Hashimoto, senior advisor of JICA, suggested journalists develop stories on voter education, comparison of party manifestos, profiles of candidates, local political landscape, human ties and competition.

Similarly, Toshiyuki Sato of Public Broadcasters International said that it was not wise for a journalist to identify himself with a certain candidate, give his own opinion and provide unbalanced reporting.

Professor at the Department Chiranjibi Khanal said that journalists should create equidistance with all the political parties and candidates and free themselves from any kind of prejudice, including ethnocentrism. 

GIA conducts 5-day course on gem and jewellery

Kathmandu, Apr. 21: The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) conducted a five-day course for gem and jewellery industry professionals here from April 17 to 21 under its Applied Jewellery Professional (AJP) programme to Nepal.

The programme was organised in collaboration with the Federation of Nepal Gold Silver Gem and Jewellery Associations (FNGSGJA).

"The AJP programme covers essential information about diamonds, coloured stones, precious metals and jewellery features that enable jewellers to confidently communicate product quality and value to their customers," said the GIA in a press statement.

According to FNGSGJA president Ramesh Maharjan, the courses offered by the world leader in gem and jewellery education will help the industry grow and create talent and expertise.

"GIA's mission is to ensure the public trust in gems and jewellery through education, research, laboratory services and instrument development. Now, professionals and aspiring professionals across the country have easier access to world-class education in gems and jewellery," said Nirupa Bhatt, GIA's managing director for India and the Middle East.

As per the institute, it aims to introduce courses, such as five-day SWIFT Jewellery Design, Practical Diamond Grading Lab Class and more programmes.

Established in 1931, GIA has been offering courses on diamonds, coloured stones, pearls, merchandising, jewellery design and retail in the international market. 

Former Japanese PM to support Nepal in bringing FDI

Kathmandu, Mar 18: Former Japanese Prime Minister Dr. Yukio Hayotama has expressed commitment to help Nepal in bringing in more investment and tourists from Japan.

Speaking at a welcome function organised by the Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) on Saturday, Dr. Hayotama said that as Nepal offered a huge potential in agriculture, hydroelectricity, tourism and other business areas, more Japanese investors were interested to come here.

"Besides that, I am personally interested in investing in Nepal. I am investing in a 17 megawatt hydroelectricity project in Nepal in collaboration with Non-Resident Nepalese. We plan to complete the project within two years," he said.

He will visit the construction site of the project.

Dr. Hayotama suggested Nepal to give priority to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as they were the main contributor to the economic development of any country.

"You might have heard some large multinational corporations of Japan but Japan's economy is primarily supported by the SMEs," he said.

According to him, Nepal has high potentials in tourism, so the country should promote and develop tourism products and infrastructure.

"Nepal can be a good destination for Japanese people because they are nature lovers. Apart from that they will come to Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha. We are ready to collaborate with the government and private sector in Nepal in this regard," said Hayotama.

Welcoming him, president of the NCC Rajesh Kazi Shrestha urged him to facilitate the private sector in Japanese technology transfer to Nepal.

"Nepal is one of the major tourist destinations for Japanese tourists, and it is also a destination for foreign direct investment because of two of the world's largest markets – India and China. In addition to it, there are abundant resources for industry and business in the country," he said.

He said that Japan had a remarkable role in the development of agriculture, health and education sector in Nepal, and Japan's grant and other assistance supported in the economic development.

Dr. Hayotama is scheduled to meet President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Sunday and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday.

He will also call on Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba and chair of the main opposition, CPN-UML.

He served as the PM of Japan from 16 September 2009 to 2 June 2010, and was the first PM from the modern Democratic Party of Japan. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1986 and became the president of DPJ in May 2009.

Dhurmus Suntali brand ambassador of UIC

United Insurance Company (Nepal) has appointed Sitaram Kattel (Durmus) and Kunjana Ghimire (Suntali) as its Official Brand Ambassador. Chief executive officer of Shekhar Baral presented letters of appointment to Dhurmus on Thursday.  

MWSP plans to use water from the Bagmati for the pipeline testing from July

Kathmanduties to get much-awaited Melamchi water from coming October

The Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) is preparing to funnel water from the Bagmati River into the recently laid water supply pipelines in the Kathmandu Valley by the end of July this year.

This will not only bring drinking water to the houses, but also put an end to the dust menace in the valley.

“The financial progress at the construction site of the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) at Sundarijal is about 94 per cent, and we have completed the civil works and machine installation. The only thing remaining is the testing of the equipment and pipelines, which will be done with water from the Bagmati after three months,” said Prakash R. Shrestha, deputy team leader of the MWSP’s Water Treatment Plant at Sundarijal.

As the water of the Melamchi River in Sindhupalchowk district will only reach Sundarijal in October, the MWSP is planning to use water from the Bagmati for the pipeline testing.

The contractor of the MWSP tunnel, CMC, completed the 9-kilometre-long Sundarijal-Sindhu tunnel in December 2016, while about 4 km of a 5.5-km-long tunnel is under construction, which is needed to bring water from the Melamchi River to Sundarijal through a 27.5-km-long waterway.

“Therefore, we are planning to use water from the Bagmati. Although the work at the WTP will be completed in the next few months, the pipelines can’t be tested before July end as there will not be sufficient water in the Bagmati River,” said Shrestha. 

The treatment process includes addition of chemicals like lime and alum, flocculation, sedimentation, rapid sand filtration, disinfection, treated water storage and sludge consolidation.

“The WTP, developed in the first phase, has a capacity to treat 85 million litres of water per day. The treated water will then flow through a pipeline 1400 mm in diameter to 10 storage reservoirs around the Kathmandu Valley,” said Shrestha.

The MWSP has replaced most of the old pipelines and installed new ones to provide World Health Organisation (WHO) standard water.

“Therefore, utmost attention has been given while laying the water pipelines. Measures will be applied so as to prevent any leakage in the pipelines,” he said.

The tunnel will bring about 170 million litres of water per day from Melamchi in the first phase. So work to increase the capacity of the treatment plant to 170 MLD was started in January this year.

The contractor of the work, Tundi Pratibha Industries JV, has already started the excavation works.

Enhancement of the WTP’s capacity to 170 MLD will be completed in 1.5 years, said the MWSP.

Construction of another treatment plant will start soon as another 340 million litres of water from the Yangri and Larke Rivers will be available in the Kathmandu Valley by 2021.

After the completion of the first phase of the project, each household in the valley will get water supply for 4 hours a day.

The WTP has been developed at a cost of more than Rs. 3.2 billion.

The total cost of the project is Rs. 3.54 billion, of which about 70 per cent is supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in soft loans at 0.1 per cent interest while the rest is being borne by the government.

According to JICA, the loan will mature in 40 years.

Makoto Oyama, incharge of the Economic Cooperation Section at the Japanese Embassy, said that the project was a result of the consolidated ties between JICA and Nepal government. 

IDPs appreciate the govt. for investment environment

Kathmandu, Apr. 20: International Development Partners and Diplomats Thursday appreciated the government for its efforts to improve the investment environment in the country.

Speaking at an interaction organised by the Ministry of Industry (MoI) at Singha Durbar they said that the country had made tremendous progress in terms of policy reforms and political commitment to create business-friendly environment.

“Due to the recent reform initiatives, many Japanese businessmen have shown their interest in investing here. They are consulting with us,” said Japanese ambassador to Nepal Masasi Ogawa.

However, he urged the government to improve the decision making process since it was very slow.

According him, investors should be provided services faster than the neighbouring countries, if the country had to draw direct foreign investment (FDI).

Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the United States of America Michael C. Gonzales said that he believed that the Ministry delivered what it said.

He expected that through upcoming three elections, Nepal would enter into the new era of policy stability which would attract more FDI.

“But, many foreign investors are waiting for the enactment of the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act (FITTA). Similarly, important is to implement Labour Act Amendment Bill, Land Use Act Bill and Agro-Business Promotion Bill,” he said.

The FITTA bill has been sent to the Ministry of Law for its inputs and will be sent to the Cabinet.

It has features like equal treatment to the foreign investors, easy procedure, guarantee of repatriation and incentives for FDI.

Saeed Hamdan al Naqbi, ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Nepal, said that the clear political commitment from the major political parties had encouraged the investors in the Gulf to come here.

Deputy country director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sophie Kemkhadze said the rural economy in the country needed a serious consideration for its development through micro-enterprise promotion.

“The government should give priority to the micro and cottage enterprise and support it through development plans and market linkage programmes,” she said.

Minister for Industry Nabindra Raj Joshi said that the government had enacted one-door service at the Department of Industry and working to facilitate the investors through various ways.

“The government has initiated the second generation reforms in order to revitalize private sector industries and create amount of job opportunities within the country to retain our future generations,” he said.

According to Joshi, the second generation reform was forwarded through the MoI to create the base for industrialization with the FDI as major source of capital.

The MoI is also working on regulations for the Industrial Enterprise, SEZ (Special Economic Zone), Technology Development Fund and Petroleum, while National Mines Policy and Quality Control Act are sent to the Cabinet for conceptual approval.

Joint secretary at the Ministry Pradip Koirala stated that the Ministry was working on five priorities – job creation for all Nepali youth within 10 years, creation of investment-friendly environment, development and promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises, development of industrial infrastructure, and achieving equitable economic prosperity and rural transformation. 

Include private sector in sub-regional initiative: Deuba

Kathmandu, Apr. 17: Former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress Chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba Monday said that private sector should be involved in the South Asia sub-regional initiatives for trade and connectivity.

"There is a huge potential for BBIN (Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal) countries to engage private sector in facilitating trade through infrastructure development such as roads, airports, railways, waterways, ports, industrial zones, and integrated border management system," he said while addressing a conference on 'Strengthening cooperation among BBIN countries: the road ahead' here.

The BBIN Initiative is a sub-regional structure of four member countries which works in the areas of water resource management, connectivity of power, transport and infrastructure.

First concrete progress towards the sub-regionalism was made when the four countries signed the BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement in June 2015 at the BBIN Transport Ministers' Meeting in Bhutan.

The BBIN-MVA permits the vehicles of member states to enter in each other's territory for the movement of people and cargo by obtaining electronic permit to make an entry.

As the BBIN provides a better platform for bilateral trade by linking four South Asian countries, it can open up untapped and unexplored trade possibilities in various goods, and services including tourism, energy, education, health, finance and logistics, said Deuba.

However, he maintained that in order to boost bilateral trade and facilitate transit, physical and soft infrastructure should be developed with priority.

"Though there is a strong demand for a deeper regional integration in South Asia, the progress has been rather slow. The actual implementation of agreements often does not match the declared ambitions, and in this context, lack of coordination, institutional weaknesses, resources inadequacies and capacity for implementation have been argued to be the major impending factors," he said.

Professor Sachin Chaturvedi, director general of Research and Information system for Developing Countries (RIS) – a New Delhi-based autonomous think-tank, also emphasized on the involvement of the private sector of in the connectivity initiatives.

Saying that the government should not alone remain in the driving seat in the regional initiatives, he posed a question, "Can we think of a BBIN wide transport company with shares of key truck operators in the region so that we avoid undue pollution and get the profits distributed in such a way that all share in the pie?"

According to Chaturvedi, economic complementarities, geographical proximity, political commitment, policy coordination and infrastructure development are the basic factors to make regional integration success.

"Adequate participation and cooperation of the public and private sectors are equally relevant," he said.

Member of the Board of Directors at the Institute for Strategic and Socio-Economic Research (ISSR), Professor Madan Kumar Dahal proposed that the BBIN should be declared as one economic zone to expedite joint investments in potential areas based on comparative advantages and competitive edges.

"Sharing of knowledge and technology in potential areas is necessary to ensure a high, sustainable and inclusive growth in member countries. Equally important is to share experiences in poverty alleviation," he said.

Another member of the ISSR BoD, Professor Govind Nepal said that the enhanced cooperation and deepening integration among the BBIN countries would help to optimize benefits, reduce costs, increase efficiency and utilize platform to maintain the quality of public goods.

Chairman of ISSR, Professor Bishwambher Pyakuryal, said that the conference would discuss on strengthening cooperation and increasing connectivity among the BBIN member countries.

The conference is organised by ISSR in collaboration with the UN ESCAP, The Asia Foundation and Pavilion Group.