Opening more border points suggest for increasing trade thru Kolkata

Kathmandu, July 29: Chairman of the Kolkata Port Trust (KPT) Vinit Kumar on Sunday said that his office was putting its utmost efforts to facilitate the mobility of Nepali goods – both of import and export from the port.

“We are trying to support Nepal to move its goods at the earliest. The capacity of Haldia to the nearest railway station is being doubled and waterways and intermodal terminal at Kalughat in Bihar is being built to cater Nepal-bound traffic from Kolkata,” he said while speaking at the ‘24^th Cargo Day’ event organised by the Nepal Freight Forwarders Association (NEFFA).

The event was inaugurated by Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun.

At the same time, the infrastructure at the Kolkata port is also being upgraded.

Both the countries are holding discussions and feasibility studies to develop in-land waterways connecting Kolkata port to Nepal.

Kumar said that the KPT was aware of the delay that the Nepali transporters and traders were facing at the port, and suggested that more points should be opened at the Nepal-India border as the single entry point Raxaul-Birgunj was experiencing high congestion due to its limited capacity.

According to him, the KPT had asked the Indian government to consider about opening more border points with Nepal to facilitate bulk imports.

“We are very positive about supporting Nepali traders. About a couple of months ago, we have designated an officer to hear grievances of Nepali traders, and a separate Nepal corner is created in our web portal recently,” said Kumar.

President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Bhawani Rana and president of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Hari Bhakta Sharma also stressed on the need for opening multiple border points with India.

“Nepal needs to work rapidly to reduce the doing business cost, and one of the measures to do so is facilitating the freight forwarders and opening multiple border points. It will also help to reduce the detention and demurrage charges,” said Rana.

According to her, the border points should be open at Biratnagar, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj.

Similarly, Shrama said that due to congestions at the only border point at Raxaul-Birgunj, Nepali traders and industrialists are forced to pay four-times high cost and the transportation of goods took about seven times more period.

He urged the government to sign a railway agreement with India and facilitate the movement of goods directly from Kolkata port to Janakpur, Birgunj or any other cities in Nepal.

President of NEFFA Prakash Singh Karki urged the government to reduce the logistics cost of the freight forwarders as the cost is higher than the neighbouring countries.

“Nepali container trucks and trailers should be allowed from Kolkata port to Nepal border, and Nepali freight forwarders should be provided with customs discount in such vehicles. It will create competition with Indian transport competition,” he said.

Secretary of Commerce Chandra Kumar Ghimire said that the government was positive about opening multiple border points with both the neighbours – India and China, and the talks were underway for the same.

After making the Birgunj Integrated Check Post (ICP) operational, the government had initiated the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of ICP at Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj and study for ICP in Chandani Dodhara will begin soon.

Similarly, Yari, Kimathanka, Mustang and Tatopani border points with China are being studied to open. Tatopani was the major trade route between Nepal and China, but the devastating earthquake in 2015 destroyed the infrastructure there, including the roads and bridges.

As China is rebuilding the infrastructure, Nepal is hopeful that the Tatopani border will open by next year.

The NEFFA felicitated Oriental Cargo Service’s Padam Prasad Pokharel and Consul General of Consulate of Nepal at Kolkata Ek Narayan Aryal with NEFFA Annual Award 2018, and FNCCI Province -3 Chairman Dinesh Shreatha and Executive Director of Nepal Intermodal Transportation Development Board Laxman Bahadur Basnet with Letter of Appreciation and Appreciation respectively.

Likewise, Cathy Dragon, Thai Air and Qatar Airlines received awards as the first, second and third highest cargo uplift from Nepal in 2017 in the online airlines category. Emirates Sky Cargo received the highest cargo uplift from offline airlines.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 July 2018. 

EN to launch financial literacy programme

Kathmandu, July 29:

Entrepreneurs Nepal (EN) is preparing to launch a Financial Teach (Fin-Teach) programme with an aim to increase financial literacy among the youth and adolescents.

 It said that the organisation had designed a school-level curriculum for the programme.

“EN has worked in the area of entrepreneurship for more than four years in the past, and we found that most of the Nepali youth were failed in enterprise building due to poor understanding of financial aspects of the business. Therefore, we have come up with a programme to enhance financial literacy,” said Asmita Adhikari, Director of the Fin-Teach.

She said that according to an EN study, most of the youth entrepreneurs failed in their businesses and left it because of poor financial literacy, and her organisation had decided to implement the entrepreneurship and financial literacy programmes together.

EN is set to launch a 2-year project for financial literacy. The Rs. 150 million project will promote financial literacy in entrepreneurs as well as college and school level students from class 6 to 12.

A curriculum for 15 days, 1 month and 3 months has been developed targeting the same section of society.

The curriculum is the result of our two-year’s hard work, and it will be a milestone in financial literacy sector, said Manoj Gyawali, a banker.

“We will teach school students about how to save money and where to invest the savings. If we could make students literate about the financial matters, they will make their family aware of it,” he said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 July 2018. 

United signs bancassurance with RBB and NAB

Kathmandu, July 29: Rastriya Banijjya Bank Limited (RBBL) and NIC Asia Bank Limited (NABL) will sell the insurance products of United Insurance Company (Nepal) Limited (UIC-Nepal) from their branches across the country.

UIC Nepal on Sunday signed the bancassurance agreements with both the banks.

In separate events, UIC Nepal’s Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai and RBBL’s CEO Kiran Kumar Shrestha, and NABL’s Acting CEO Roshan Kumar Neupane signed the agreements.

Both the banks will sell the UIC Nepal’s insurance policies covering the collateral and other properties while the insurance company will evaluate the collateral and properties of the customers.

The agreements will benefit both the parties, said Bhattarai.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 July 2018. 

KCC Exhibit concludes

Kathmandu, July 29: KCC Exhibit concluded on Sunday.

The two-day event was featured with 45 innovative projects from information and communication technology, electronics and civil engineering, four game stalls and two food stalls.

Vice-Chancellor of the Purbanchal University Prof. Dr. Ghanashyam Lal Das inaugurated the 2-day event at the Kantipur City College (KCC) with the theme ‘innovative, integrate and sustain’. A seminar on ‘Smart city for sustainable development’ was also organised on Saturday.

Prof. Das said that such events will create bridge between theory and market demand.

According to Prof. Rama Krishna Regmee said that such exhibits link student’s classroom learning to industrial venture that ultimately contributes to society.

Director-General of Department of IT (DoIT), Laxmi Prasad Yadav suggested making the projects in compliance with the DoIT guidelines considering real scenario.

The event was organised by the Center for Software Research and Development (CSDR) at KCC.

Published in The Rising Nepal Daily on 30 July 2018. 

Five are males for each female blood donor

Kathmandu, July 28: Majority blood donors of Nepal are male.

Of the total 62,353 unit blood collected by the Central Blood Transfusion Service (CBTS) operated and managed by Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) in the last fiscal year 2017/18, only 16 per cent was donated by women, and 84 per cent by men – 10,068 units and 52,285 units respectively.

However, 262,439 units of blood were collected and 344,933 units were distributed to the patients across the country.

This year blood transfusion in Nepal completed 52 years. In the first year of the implementation of blood transfusion, 157 units of blood were collected, said NCRS Chairman Sanjeev Thapa at a programme organised in Lalitpur to mark the occasion.

In the initial 15 years, blood was collected from the people and workers who were ready to sell the blood. The NRCS started promoting ‘blood donation’ from the volunteers after that, and currently many individuals and organisations are supporting in the this campaign, said Dr. Manita Rajkarnikar, chief of the CBTS.

According to her, of the 62,353 units of blood collected last year, 50,600 units were provided by the volunteers and the rest – about 18 per cent – was given by the relatives and friends of the patients.

Currently the country has 108 Blood Transfusion Service Centres and Units in 73 districts. There are five Regional Transfusion Services in Biratnagar, Pokhara, Nepalgunj, Kailali and Chitwan.

Thapa urged the government to provide additional financial support to run the blood transfusion services across the country as the NCRS is spending more than 15 million annually to manage the service.

“In order to provide the service, district-level blood transfusion service is established in 22 districts, Emergency Blood Transfusion Service is operational in 47 districts and transfusion units are established in 38 hospitals in the country,” said Dibya Raj Poudel, Communication Officer of the NRCS.

Last year, about 3,834 mobile blood collection programmes were organised in Nepal.

AB Negative rarest

According to the CBTS, only 3.10 per cent people in the country have rare blood groups – A, B, O and AB Negative, and the Kathmandu Valley has only 2.9 per cent people with negative blood group. The rarest blood group is AB Negative with only 0.42 per cent people with it.

CBTS has found 66 samples with HIV Positive, 466 with Hepatitis B and 351 with Hepatitis C in the last fiscal.

The NRCS felicitated organisations active in promoting blood donation and organising donation programmes. Pashupati Marwari Sewa Sangh, Ganeshman Singh Study Academy, Lions Club of Chabahil and Chabhil Red Cross were felicitated for organising weekly blood collection programme.

Similarly, Blood Donors Association of Nepal, Nepal Voluntary Blood Donors Society, Friends of RS Negative, Lions Club of Laligurans, Dirghayu Hospital, Mahabouddha, Ganabahal and Bramhatole units of NRCS, Friends Club of Balambu, Satya Sai Sewa Sangathan, Trinity College, Heads Nepal and Lions Club were also felicitated for organising blood donation programmes more frequently.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 July 2018. 

Govt finalises PPA draft to buy electricity from sugar mills

Kathmandu, July 27: The government has given finishing touches to the draft of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) template for buying electricity generated by the sugar industries.

“We are at the final stage of purchasing the electricity produced by the sugar mills. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) board has already approved the template,” said Prabal Adhikari, spokesperson of the NEA, the sole electricity off-taker in the country.

As per the PPA draft, the NEA will purchase the electricity from the sugar mills at Rs. 8.40 per unit during the dry season and Rs. 4.6 during the wet season. It has suggested the same purchase rate for both hydroelectricity and bio-electricity. There will be a 3 per cent annual escalation in the price for a maximum eight times.

The sugar industries generate electricity by burning the bagasse, sugarcane fibre left over after extracting juice. It is a byproduct of the sugar mills.

The Department of Electricity Development (DoED) had signed agreements in September last year with Reliance Sugar Mills to purchase 15 MW of electricity and with Indu Shankar and Everest Sugar Mills to purchase 3 MW each.

Reliance Sugar Mill

Seven out of the 13 sugar mills across the country have shown interest in generating electricity.

The Nepal Sugar Mills Association expressed hope that energy from the mills would be connected to the national grid by next year.

“It’s already late, and we have already lost large amounts of power in the past years. We had urged the government to facilitate us in generating electricity when the country was facing a severe energy shortage in the past,” said Sashi Kanta Agrawal.

He said that the government responded late to their call. As sugar mills start operating as early as October and continue till April, and the country faces an energy shortage during the dry season, bio-energy produced by them can contribute to the energy-mix.

Adhikari said that the government has removed the provision of imposing a penalty on the sugar mills, unlike the hydroelectricity projects, if they failed to supply the electricity as per the agreement.

“If there are disturbances in sugarcane supply, strikes and other untoward incidents, power generation might be affected. The mills need not pay any penalty in such a situation,” he said.

Electricity generation from the bagasse will give relief to the industries as the residue tends to pile up on the premises.

Energy Minister Barsha Man Pun has announced in his white paper, published a couple of months ago, that the government would implement an energy-mix policy for energy security.

 In the last 108 years, the country has been able to produce 1,076 MW of electricity, of which 1,016 MW is hydroelectricity, 54 MW thermal and 2.68 MW solar.

The NEA is generating 562 MW while independent power producers are generating 511 MW, and the country imports up to 450 MW from India during the dry season.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 July 2018. 

'Singhadurbar-2' to begin from today

Kathmandu, July 27:

The second season of tele-drama ‘Singha Durbar’ will be aired every Saturday on Nepal Television from July 28.

The 13-episode drama is produced by Search for Common Ground – Nepal in collaboration with Subha Media Home with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and United Nations agencies in Nepal.

According to the producers, the new season of the drama focuses on the challenges and opportunities that Nepal faces under its new federal structure.

The series continues to highlight the political journey of the main protagonist and Nepal’s first reel life Prime Minister, Asha Singh, played by veteran actor Gauri Malla.

It will profile how she leads the country to successfully adopt the federal structure as well as related policies and plans.

“The series will also touch upon issues related to federalization; human trafficking; disaster risk reduction and management; and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) rights,” said the USAID.

 The secretary of Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA), Dinesh Thapaliya said, “The TV series aims to bridge the gap between the people and the government, and aspires to capacitate them on issues related to governance and federalism.” 

The show is directed by Nabin Subba and features actors like Ramesh Ranjan Jha, Pramod Agrahari, Ramesh Budhathoki, Alok Thapa, Badal Bhatta, Prakash Ghimire and Suresh Chaudhary.

The script of the drama is penned by and team led by Abhinash Bikram Shah and Tsering Choden which included Prabin Adhikari, Sampada Malla and Surash Poudel.

“We have presented a more humanized character—a Prime Minister who is afraid to fail the expectation of the people, and an ensemble of characters who represent current day leaders and the public,” said Subba.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 July 2018. 

ADB gives priority to infrastructure investment in its Strategy 2030

Kathmandu, July 27:

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has introduced its Strategy 2030 – a new long-term strategy of the multilateral financial institution – prioritising sustainable and inclusive infrastructure investments.

“Infrastructure investments – particularly those that are green, sustainable, inclusive and resilient – will remain a key priority. At the same time, ADB will expand operations in social sectors, such as education, health and social protection,” said the bank on Thursday.

ADB’s Board of Directors has approved the strategy which sets out the institution’s broad vision and strategic response to the evolving needs of Asia and the Pacific.

According to the bank, its support will focus on seven operational areas – reducing poverty and inequalities, gender equality, tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience and environment sustainability, urban development, rural development and food security, strengthening governance and institutional capacity and regional cooperation and integration.

“Asia and the Pacific have made great progress over the last half century in poverty reduction and economic growth, but there are unfinished development agendas,” said ADB president Takehiko Nakao.

“Under Strategy 2030, we will combine finance, knowledge, and partnerships to sustain our efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and expand our vision towards a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable region,” he added.

ADB’s aspirations are aligned with major global commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Financing for Development agenda, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Given the size of Asia and the Pacific, achieving such commitments will depend critically on the region’s success, said Nakao.

ADB said that it would strengthen its country-focused approach, promote the use of innovative technologies, and deliver integrated interventions that combine expertise across a range of sectors and themes and through a mix of public and private sector operations.

 “ADB will continue to prioritise support for the region’s poorest and most vulnerable countries. It will apply differentiated approaches to meet the diverse needs of various groups of countries: fragile and conflict-affected situations, small island developing states, low-income and lower middle-income countries, and upper middle-income countries,” it said.

To support the seven operational priorities under Strategy 2030, ADB will expand and diversify its private sector operations to reach one third of ADB operations in number by 2024.

“We will expand our private sector operations in new and frontier markets, such as fragile and conflict-affected situations and small island developing states. We will also support more public-private partnerships,” said Nakao.

ADB targets a substantial increase in long-term co-financing by 2030, with every $1 in financing for its private sector operations matched by $2.50 in long-term co-financing.  

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 July 2018. 

Shrestha performs at Pum and ASSITEJ festivals

Kathmandu, July 25: Theatre artiste Kedar Shrestha has enacted a solo-performance at the Pum Theatre Festival and ASSITEJ Korea International Summer Theatre Festival in South Korea. ASSITEJ is the umbrella organisation of the international children’s theatre around the world.

He presented a play ‘Mr. Moon, Miss Sun and Mrs. Crow’. The play was created during a month long Asian Artiste Residence Workshop organised in South Korea.

Shrestha directed and acted in the play developed out of a famous Korean folk tale in the supervision of Song Inhyun, Director of Mindule Theatre and Pum Festival.

He is the Founder and Art Director of the Theatre Centre for Children (TCC) Nepal and Theatre Mall, and is participated in the workshop representing ASSITEJ Nepal.

The play tells a story of a struggle of hungry brother and sister who are waiting for their mother and fight with a cunning tiger. A crow gives them company in their struggle against the tiger. The mother saves her kids posthumously, and the two siblings become Moon and Sun.

Shrestha performed all five characters in the play.

The festival is running in 26 years. According to Shrestha, the workshop was attended by 10 artistes from South Korea, Nepal, India, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Pakistan while the festival witnessed the performance from many countries across the world.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 26 July 2018. 

Textile, Spinning mills seek measures to protect their business

Kathmandu, July 24: Textile and spinning mills have warned that the industry, which they termed as ‘sick’, would slowly die if the government failed to implement measures to provide bigger protection to the business with tighter Value Added Tax (VAT) regime and curb illegal imports of textile.

In that case, more than Rs. 20 billion investment in the spinning and Rs. 7 billion in textile industries, and 250,000 employees in those sectors will be affected.

They said that they weren’t asking for exclusive protection of their business but a level playing field. Therefore, we have asked the government to hike the customs duty on textile and readymade garment imports and provide subsidy on technology transfer.

Nepal charges 15 per cent customs duty on textiles and 5 per cent on yarn imports, which, according to the entrepreneurs, should be raised to 35 per cent immediately.

A kilo of cloth is imported at US $1 to $1.25 from China and $1 - $1.5 from Bangladesh, with false declaration while Nepali products come at a much higher price.

President of Nepal Textile Association (NTA) Jitendra Lohia said that the knitted fabric costs about $4 per kilo and woven fabric $6 per kg.

 “In such a scenario, even if you impose a 15 per cent duty on such imports, it wouldn’t have significant impact on the business. Therefore, the government should check the wrong declaration, smuggling of cloth and implement the Value Added Tax (VAT) on finished goods with higher rigour,” said Pawan Golyan, president of Yarn Manufacturer’s Association (YMA).

The demanded customs duty and VAT combined would mean 50 per cent revenue to the government.

He said that Bangladesh had refused reciprocity in allowing Nepali yarn against its garment export to Nepal and urged the government to rethink about importing Bangladeshi products.

“If all cloth comes through a valid channel, that would be a major relief to the domestic yarn and textile industries,” said Golyan.

Textile value addition

Product	Value Addition
Yarn	40-50 %
Dye	60 %
Textile	80 %
Garment	200-300%
Overall	up to 500%

Source: YMA and NTA

The businessmen expressed discontent over the government measure to lump the manufacturing industries with the mobile and edible oil imports while annulling the VAT return facility.

“It was a bad decision on the part of the government, which has created more challenges to the labour-intensive industries. We were getting 70 per cent VAT back, and the country was earning 30 per cent of the VAT anyway,” said Lohia.

The spinning and textile mills can generate employment for 500,000 people in the next five years if there is a favourable environment, said Shashi Kanta Agrawal, executive member of Reliance Spinning Mill Limited, the largest yarn industry and the largest employer in the country.

He suggested that the government revise the valuation of textile import from kilo to metre.

Entrepreneurs demanded the government implement its directives to purchase domestic goods even if they are expensive by 10 per cent. The government made the decision to increase the consumption of domestic goods in 2013, but it has not been executed yet.

Revenue Secretary Sishir Kumar Dhungana said that the government was serious about the demands of the textile industries.

“A special team will be formed within a couple of days to analyse the status and challenges of the sector. The government will hold discussion with the business community and will devise effective measures to support them,” he said.

He also said that the government was positive to improve border management, and the security agencies have already been directed towards this end.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 July 2018. 

Silly Decision

District Administration Office, Kathmandu on Monday issued a notice in the name of the annulled Transport Committees to submit the details of their office expenditures such as salary of staff, electricity, water and cost of treatment for the injured in the accidents by the vehicles of their members as well as other liabilities so as to allow them to take the part of the money collected in their ‘blocked’ bank accounts. 

This is just another nonsense decision from the government. The intentions of the government couldn’t be said right because the transport syndicate was ended as they blocked the fair competition in the transportation sector, provided sub-standard service and cheated the passengers. 

What could be the motive behind allowing the terminated ‘transport committees’ to provide money? It could establish a precedent that the committees that promoted syndicate in the country and exploited the consumers were right therefore the government was compensating them with the money which it had seized from them. 

This decision will provide the transport committees to create an exhausted list of expenditures and liabilities and run away with the money in the seized bank accounts. Instead of issuing such controversial notice, the government should have unveiled the stepwise plan to provide better and reliable transport services for both people and goods in the country. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 July 2018. 

Indian field office to shut from Aug 1

Kathmandu, July 24: India is permanently shutting down its Biratnagar Field Office from August 1, 2018.

The Embassy of India in Kathmandu in a notice issued the other day announced that services offered by the field office would be provided by the embassy.

“All services, including issuing of motor vehicle permits, registration certificates for Indian nationals, attestation of documents and miscellaneous services being rendered by the Camp Office will cease from August 1,” read the notice.

It has asked everyone to contact the embassy office for any services hitherto being rendered by the Biratnagar Camp Office.

India had set up the office in 2008. 

Published in The Rising Nepal Daily on 25 July 2018. 

Cyber Security Summit from 27 July

Kathmandu, July 23: Information Security Response Team Nepal (NPCERT) is organising ‘Global Cyber Security Summit (GCSS) 2018 on July 27 and 28 in Kathmandu.

The summit being organised with the theme ‘Building Global Alliance for Cyber Resilience’ will include a pre-summit workshop at the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), panel discussion, key note speech and deliberations.

We are organising the summit with an aim to gather expertise int eh field of cyber security in regards to share knowledge and skills, said Chiranjibi Adhikari, Summit Coordinator and President of the NPCERT.

“The summit is an initiative to make people aware of information security in order to establish a strong security situation in Nepal. It will empower new generation and will bring together different stakeholders from various parts of the world to discuss on current cyber security trends,” he said.

Vice-Chancellor of NAST Prof. Dr. Jiba Raj Pokharel said that the growing cyber threats had created challenges for the government as well as private sector institutions all around the globe and Nepal should be proactive to fight with the new challenges.

The event will be attended by IT professionals, security experts, government officers, enterprises and academicians.

Champika Wijayatunga from ICANN, Vivek Srivastava from CISCO and other IT professionals will be speaking in the forum, said the organiser.

It also said that the summit will provide networking opportunity with national and international business partners, employers and clients, and may create opportunities for foreign security firms to enter into Nepal’s security market.

NPCERT is a society of Information Security experts formed to address the urgent need for the protection of national information and growing cyber security threat in Nepal.

Sugar factories demand to put ban on sugar imports

Kathmandu, July 23:

The sugar factories in the country have demanded the government either put a moratorium on sugar import or buy their stock at the government offered rate of Rs. 62 per kilo plus Value Added Tax (VAT) as they were unable to sell their product due to the cheap imports.

As the cheap sugar import threatened the domestic industries, the government had doubled the customs duty on the popular sweetener – from 15 per cent to 30 per cent. But the traders had already imported more than 210,000 tons of sugar.

And sugar is being imported unabatedly even now.

The sugar mills in the country produced 178,000 tons of sugar during the last crushing season –from November to May – of which only 30 per cent has been sold while 124,000 tons are in stock.

They have only four months to clear their stock before the next crushing season begins, but they have been unable to compete with the cheap imported sugar.

The Nepal Sugar Mills Association (NSMA) shared their plight over the growing import of the commodity at a press briefing in Kathmandu on Monday.

“There is a demand for 250,000 tons while the country has more than 330,000 tons of sugar – both imported and manufactured in the country. It means we are going to face hard times to clear our sugar stock,” said Shashi Kanta Agrawal, president of the NSMA.

He said that if the government’s proposed rate of Rs. 62 was to be implemented, the cost of sugarcane should also be brought down to Rs. 380- 400 per quintal from the current Rs. 465.92.

As per the estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture, Soil Management and Cooperatives, per kg production cost of sugar is about Rs. 62.5. If the Value Added Tax (13 per cent) and profit (5 per cent) are added to that cost, per kg price reaches Rs. 73.56.

“The government should put a complete ban on sugar import, reduce the price of sugarcane and provide concessional loans to the factories to help them make payments to the farmers,” he said.

The NSMA warned that if the government did not buy their sugar, they wouldn’t run their factories in the coming season. It means more than 100,000 farmers’ families will have trouble managing their sugarcane and clearing the fields.

According to general secretary of the NSMA Rajesh Kumar Kedia, they were unable to do business with the government set price as the mills were paying Rs. 59 to the farmers for a kilo of sugar.

In addition to it, sugar mills are unable to sell their by-products, such as ethanol, molasses and bagasse. Although the government had decided to mix 10 per cent ethanol in petrol in order to reduce petroleum import.

In order to settle issues like price and import of sugar, sugar producers have long been demanding the establishment of a high-powered Sugar/Sugarcane Development Board.

The price of Nepali sugar is Rs. 75 while the cost of a kg of imported sugar stands at Rs. 55. Nepal produces 2 million tons of sugarcane per annum.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 July 2018. 

Mansarovar pilgrims get 'Sattvic' food

Kathmandu, July 22: A tripartite collaboration has been created among Nepali, Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs to provide ‘sattvic’ food to the pilgrims visiting the Mansarovar Kailash.

Madhuban Foods and Association of Kailash Tour Operators Nepal (AKTON) have joined hands to provide Hindu vegetarian foods.

AKTON president Prakash Shrestha and Managing Director of Madhuban Foods Sumit Pratap Gupta have come to an agreement to run the catering service for the entire Kailash Tour.

Shrestha said that a robust collaboration was formed among India, Nepal and China to conduct the pilgrimage season with a new experience of ‘sattvic’ or simple food to the thousands of Hindu pilgrims expected to visit the site this year onwards.

He is the Chief Coordinator of the project and is supported by all AKTON members to oversee the logistics for moving all goods and raw materials to China while Gupta is leading the operations on the ground.

“In the arduous terrain of the trip, when pilgrims are well fed, they shall be able to complete the pilgrimage with total satisfaction. Better food and a professionally curated and standardised service will create influx of pilgrims, thereby creating more job opportunities in Nepal,” said Shrestha.

He termed the collaboration as one of the strongest ties ever among the three neighbours.

Chief Executive Officer of China-India Pilgrims Service Centre stressed that this path breaking collaboration would address the focus and intent to serve fresh, nutritious and healthy food to all the pilgrims coming for the pilgrimage.

“This collaboration among India, China and Nepal evolves our service to the next level of excellence, ensuring vital meal to every pilgrim curated for their palate and health,” he said.

Until now, the pilgrims are preparing food in their mobile kitchens. The kitchens were temporarily set wherever the group used to take halt.

About 20,000 pilgrims visited the Kailash Mansarovar last year.

This year Madhuban Foods has served about 6700 pilgrims in the last 10 weeks.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 July 2018. 

Hetauda Textile's building fit for running new plants

Kathmandu, July 22: The government-formed committee to analyse the status of the machinery, buildings and other infrastructure as well as the operation and financial modality of the already liquidated Hetauda Textile Industry has come to a preliminary conclusion that the buildings of the factory are fit enough to run textile plants.

The government is planning to reoperationalise the government-run and the largest textile factory in collaboration with the Nepal Army.

“Army is interested in bringing the dead industry back into life. Therefore, we are deliberating on the possible financing modalities,” said Shatrughna Prasad Pudasainee, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) and coordinator of the team formed to study the status of the industry.

The committee will also recommend whether it would be practical for the government to run the textile mill in collaboration with the Nepal Army.

The team will submit its report to the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav next week.

According to Pudasainee, the team has hold discussions with the former employees of the industry, industrial zone officials and other stakeholders.

“As per the discussions with the concerned stakeholders, the machinery at the industry is unfit to run the factory. We need to install modern machines with higher productivity,” he said.

Secretary of the MoICS Yam Kumari Khatiwada said that the government was positive with the army involvement in the industry’s revival process.

The committee also includes three senior army officials, a joint secretary from the Ministry of Finance, a textile engineer from the Department of Standard and Meteorology and a mechanical engineer as an independent expert.

Former Minister for Industry Nabindra Raj Joshi had started the revival of the textile mill and formed a committee to study the status of the factory. He had also decided to run it in collaboration with the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force at the cost of Rs. 100 million.

The committee led by economist Dr. Puskhar Bajracharya had said that about 40 per cent equipment of the factory were in sound condition.

Established about four decades ago, the industry had the capacity to produce 36,000 metres of cloth per day.

It has been liquidated and merged into the Industrial District Management Limited.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 July 2018.