UK announces Rs. 7.1bn support package for Nepal

Kathmandu, Aug 27

The United Kingdom has announced 45.8 million Sterling Pound (Rs. 7.12 billion) support package for Nepal to help the latter in the fight against the COVID-19.

In a virtual meeting with Minister for Finance, and Communication and Information Technology Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada on Thursday, State Minister of Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom Lord Ahmed has announced the financial assistance, said the Ministry of Finance.

The British Minister has also said that his government would like to extend support to Nepal in the areas of improving the investment climate, mitigating the impacts of climate change as well as Sagarmatha Sambad and green development.

Dr. Khatiwada appreciated the UK for its continuous support in Nepal's socio-economic development. He also lauded the proposed cooperation by the former in health, social security and infrastructure sectors in Nepal during the difficult times of coronavirus pandemic.

The UK has been supporting Nepal in the areas like economic development, post-quake reconstruction, financial access, road infrastructure and investment.

The Finance Minister had updated Ahmad about Nepal's development priority, economic status and efforts in creating the investment-friendly environment.

"We are revising the threshold for the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and moving ahead to sign the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with the UK while the laws like Public Private Partnership Act and Investment Board Act were implemented to attract more investment," he said to the British Minister.

Dr. Khatiwada also requested State Minister Ahmad to facilitate the British investors who are interested to make investment in Nepal. He urged the global community to be proactive in the conservation of biological diversity, promotion of green technology and renewable energy and save the world from the impact of climate change.

He pledged Nepal's participation in the COP26 meeting that will be held in the UK in November next year.

Earlier, State Minister Ahmad had held a virtual meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali in which he expressed commitment of the UK for continued cooperation to Nepal.

The two ministers discussed about holding the next round of Nepal-UK Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) meeting virtually between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office within the next few months.

While agreeing to work together on the common areas of climate action, they expressed their hope that the outcome to be produced at the Sagarmatha Sambaad next year, will help inform the wider deliberations of the COP26, said the MoFA in a statement.

The United Kingdom has looked forward to Nepal’s active participation in this global dialogue. Minister Gyawali appreciated the British initiative and assured that Nepal would continue to engage in deliberations towards reducing the effects of climate change, preserving mountain ecosystems and supporting sustainable development.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 August 2020. 

Nepal, China agree to expedite dev. projects

Kathmandu, Aug 27

Nepal and China have reached a consensus to expedite the implementation and development of China-funded projects in Nepal.

In a video conference meeting held between the Ministry of Finance of Nepal and China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) on Thursday, the leaders of the two countries agreed to enhance the collaboration to complete the projects in time.

"During the meeting, comprehensive discussions were made regarding the implementation status of the China-funded development projects in Nepal and the upcoming initiations needed to be taken from both sides for expediting the implementation of the pipeline projects," said the MoF.

Secretary of the MoF Sishir Kumar Dhungana highlighted the status of various projects and said, “It is gratifying that the projects undergoing with the grant assistance and concessional loan from China are being smoothly implemented and we are committed to taking the partnership to a newer height with China.”

He said that both the countries needed to jointly coordinate to resolve the existing issues related to the execution of different projects and facilitate for the construction of the projects in the stipulated time.

Vice Chairman of CIDCA Deng Boqing said that China had already taken initiatives to resolve the issues related to the execution of the on-going projects and was committed to carrying forward the important pipeline projects whose preparatory works have been already finalised by the Nepal government.

He also elaborated the plans related to the improvement of Araniko Highway and the Ring-Road Improvement Project (Phase II), which is going to be initiated soon.

Nepal has requested the CIDCA for the earlier initiation from the Chinese side for the implementation of most strategic pipeline projects, including the Bir Hospital Extension Project, Coordinated Border Management at Korala Customs Point and Madan Bhandari Science and Technology University Project.

Similarly, Livelihood Improvement Project in the Northern Region of Nepal, Feasibility Study of Tunnel Construction in Tokha-Chhare and Betrabati-Syafrubesi and China-Nepal Cross-Border Railway and implementation of Exim-Bank concessional loan projects are the other projects that are being carried forward with the Chinese cooperation.

According to the ministry, the Chinese side reaffirmed their commitment towards scaling up the initiations for promoting these projects and stressed on the need to work together to better plan and coordinate for accomplishing these projects.

"They further purposed to forward these projects in a stepwise manner once the effect of the COVID-19 begins to ease down," said the MoF in a statement.

Boqing also pledged to provide more support to fight together with the pandemic and extend the cooperation between two countries in the upcoming days as well.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 August 2020. 

ADB extends loan of $200m for power infrastructure in Nepal

Kathmandu, Aug. 27

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide concessional loan equivalent to US$ 200 million (about Rs. 23.88 billion) to Nepal for the implementation of South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Power Transmission and Distribution System Strengthening Project.  

Similarly, Norway agreed to provide a grant co-financing equivalent to US$ 35 million (about Rs. 4.18 billion) to be administered by the ADB.

Finance Secretary Sishir Kumar Dhungana and ADB Country Director Mukhtor Khamudkhanov signed the loan and grant agreement on Thursday at the Ministry of Finance, Singha Durbar.

Likewise, project agreement was signed by Managing Director of Nepal Electricity (NEA) Authority Kul Man Ghising and ADB Country Director Khamudkhanov at the MoF.

Dhungana said that ADB was a major development partner supporting Nepal’s energy sector.

“The project connects to SASEC framework by upgrading substations to enable full-fledged operation of the transmission line at 400 kilovolts, and to facilitate cross-border power exchange with India. The project will also support State 2, where the quality of electricity supply is poor and about 20% of households are still out of access to the national grid,” he further said.

Khamudkhanov said that electricity supplies were expected to increase rapidly during the next several years. Given this, electricity network enhancement has been a priority.

This loan is concessional having a 32-year term, including a grace period of 8 years, an interest rate of 1.0 per cent per year during the grace period and 1.5 per cent per year thereafter.

The grant will be utilised for financing expenditures related to power transmission capacity enhancement and improvement of distribution network and capacity of energy-based enterprises development in Provice-2.

The MoF will relend these assistances to NEA through subsidiary loan and grant agreements for implementation of project activities. The project will accomplish the reinforcement and modernisation of the power supply system in Kathmandu in Bagmati State and will begin strengthening of distribution systems outside of the Kathmandu Valley starting with the Bharatpur Metropolitan City area in Bagmati and Pokhara in Gandaki State, suffering from persisting power supply interruptions.

The project will also support State 2, where the quality of electricity supply is poor and about 20% of households are still without access to the national grid. Further, the project will strengthen transmission lines for evacuation of hydropower to the main load centers, while excess power is traded with neighboring countries, said the MoF.

 The project also aligns with SASEC framework by upgrading substations in Khimti, Barhabise, and Lapsiphedi to enable full-fledged operation of the transmission line passing through these substations at 400 kilovolts, and to facilitate cross-border power exchange with India.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 August 2020.

COVID-19 affects progress of tourism projects: Bhattarai

Kathmandu, Aug 25

The coronavirus pandemic has hit hard the tourism sector and seriously affected projects under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA).

Construction of three international airports in Bhairahawa, Pokhara and Nijgadh were affected and none of them could meet the target set for the Fiscal Year 2019/20. The Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa should have been completed and started flight services by the end of the fiscal, but it has achieved only 91 per cent progress.

Likewise, Pokhara International Airport has achieved 61 per cent progress against the earlier estimate of 75 per cent.

The Nijgadh Internatioal Airport also could not utilise the budget of Rs. 1.5 billion allocated for the last fiscal as it faced environment clearance problems and couldn't complete the survey of the trees in the project area. The relocation of the settlement could not be done as well.

Similarly, the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Tribhuvan International Airport has been affected, as a result, the project is continuing instead of culminating by mid-July. The construction of new trekking trail, including the Great Himalayan Trail (GHT) was also slowed and only 77 km new track was built against the target of 113 km. The total length of trekking trail has reached 332 km so far.

The ministry has utilised only 59 per cent of the total budget of Rs. 21.21 billion allocated to the ministry while it had achieved 81 per cent progress in the FY 2018/19 when it was allocated a budget of Rs. 33.13 billion. The expenditure was smaller in the last fiscal compared to the previous year even though the size of budget was also reduced by one-third.

"The progress in the budget utilisation and project development was affected as the pandemic hit at a time when the capital budget would have been utilised," said Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai.

He said that the construction of the GBIA would have been completed and the bills cleared had the crisis not hit the country. According to him, the ministry's progress in capital budget is 64 per cent, financial expenditure 54 per cent and recurrent expenditure 80 per cent.

Meanwhile, the ministry had prepared drafts of Aviation Service Authority Bill, 2020 and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal Bill, 2020 and submitted them to the Parliament. It has also drafted the Aviation Policy.

"Likewise, compliance to international aviation safety standards has increased and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has recognised the positive changes in the sector," said Minister Bhattarai.  

The number of hotels has increased to 1289 by the end of previous fiscal from 1254 a year earlier. Night-time flight operations have been launched in eight airports in the country. The number of all-weather airports has also increased by three to reach 35.

Presenting the Progress Report of the ministry of Fiscal Year 2019/20, Kamal Prasad Bhattarai, Joint-Secretary at the ministry, said that the shortage of construction materials, raw materials and skilled human resources as well the shutdown of construction work contributed to the poor performance of the tourism sector projects.

"Likewise, the poor coordination among the concerned agencies such the Ministry of Forestry and Ministry of Land Management had delayed the work which would have begun much earlier had there been a proper coordination and cooperation," he said.

The ministry said that the heritage reconstruction was satisfactory as 453 heritages and monuments were rebuilt. Dharhara construction has reached the 11^th storey and Ranipokhari reconstruction is at the last phase.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 26 August 2020. 

Experts appreciate NRA’s policies in private housing reconstruction

Kathmandu, Aug 25

The second day of the four-day national symposium on post-earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation held today continued to delve on various aspects of reconstruction works.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) is organising the virtual symposium to share its experiences, good practices and lessons learnt in the last five years of post-earthquake reconstruction.

On the second day on Tuesday, four technical sessions were held and working papers were presented on various aspects of reconstruction like private housing reconstruction, construction of public infrastructures like health, education and government buildings, and reconstruction of cultural heritage sites.

Paper presenters said the NRA’s policy on deadline to receive the government grant, owner-driven construction model, household survey and re-survey and processes to ensure that no one was left behind were some of the major achievements that made the reconstruction of private houses effective.

 NRA Executive Member and Coordinator of the international conference organising committee Dr. Chandra Bahadur Shrestha presented a working paper on the survey of the housing reconstruction and its importance in formulating municipal plans.

 The sessions were focused on the reconstruction of private houses in the rural areas, reconstruction of public infrastructures, including health, education and other government buildings, and reconstruction of cultural heritage monuments.

 Various stakeholders, including development partners, I/NGOs, experts and individuals involved in the reconstruction are taking part in the symposium to develop a common view on the successes, achievements and the lessons learnt during the five years of reconstruction.

 The national symposium has been organised as part of the preparation to hold an international conference on the reconstruction and rehabilitation which is scheduled to be held later this year.

 The symposium is holding deliberations on six thematic areas – private housing reconstruction; public and social infrastructure reconstruction; cultural heritage reconstruction; livelihood; rescue and relief; and good governance. Sixty different research papers will be presented during the symposium.

 The symposium will continue till August 27.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 26 August 2020. 

Nepal seeks Russian help for East-West Railway By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Aug 25

Nepal has sought Russian investment for Inruwa-Bardibas Section of East-West Railway.

Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, and Urban Development Basanta Kumar Nembang held a discussion with the Russian Ambassador to Nepal Aleksei Novikov regarding the possible investment cooperation.

The envoy had called on the minister at the latter’s Office in  Singhadurbar on Tuesday.

The minister has sought Russian investment support for at least in the Inruwa-Bardibas section of East-West Railway, said the ministry. They also discussed the Russian cooperation in Rs. 450 billion 72-km l Kathmandu Metro Rail Project.

Minister Nembang has proposed Russia to participate in any one of the five sections of the metro project with Russian technology and investment.

In response, Novikov pledged his support in initiating the cooperation. "I am enthusiastic about development cooperation in Nepal," he said.

The minister also wished Russia the best in the development of vaccine for the COVID-19 treatment and said that it would help in saving the humankind.

Issues of bilateral interests and mutual relations as well as projects developed with Russian support such as Kanti Hospital, Panauti Hydroelectricity Project, Janakpur Cigarette Fcatory, Agricultural Input Industry, Birgunj Sugar Mill, Rosin and Turpentine  Plant, and Pathlaiya-Dhalkebar section of the East-West Highway were discussed during the meeting.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 26 August 2020. 

National Economy Shows Positive Sign: NRB

 Kathmandu, Aug 24

The average consumer price inflation stood at 6.15 percent in the Fiscal year 2019/20, slightly undermining the central bank's estimates of 6 per cent.

The Nepal Rastra Bank in its Monetary Policy for the last fiscal had said that the monetary management would focus on containing the consumer price inflation within 6 per cent to maintain the price stability. The previous FY 2018/19 had witnessed 4.64 per cent annual inflation.

However, the year-on-year CPI stood at 4.78 per cent in mid-July 2020 compared to 6.02 per cent a year ago. It was 5.83 per cent in mid-May this year.

According to the annual Macroeconomic and Financial Situation report of the country, food inflation had spiked to 8.16 per cent last year compared to 3.09 per cent a year ago while non-food and services inflation stood at 4.61 per cent coming down from last year's 5.86 per cent.

The Kathmandu Valley witnessed 6.96 per cent inflation followed by 6.29 per cent in the Terai, 5.10 per cent in the Hill and 4.91 per cent in the Mountain.

These regions had witnessed 4.86 per cent, 4.26 per cent, 5.00 per cent and 4.91 per cent inflation respectively in the previous fiscal year.

In FY 2019/20, merchandise exports increased by 0.6 per cent to Rs.97.71 billion compared to an increase of 19.4 per cent in 2018/19.

Destination-wise, exports to India increased by 11.8 per cent whereas exports to China and the other countries decreased by 43.5 per cent and 18.2 per cent respectively.

Exports of palm oil, medicine (ayurvedic), herbs, plastic utensils, fruits, among others, increased whereas exports of zinc sheet, wire, polyster yarn and threads, readymade garment and woollen carpet decreased.

 Likewise, merchandise imports decreased by 15.6 per cent to Rs.1196.8 billion against an increase of 13.9 per cent in the previous year.

Destination-wise, imports from India, China and other countries decreased by 19.9 per cent, 11.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively.

Imports of crude palm oil, crude soyabean oil, chemical fertilizer, edible oil, computer and parts, increased whereas imports of petroleum products, transport equipment and parts, M.S. billet, gold, other machinery and parts decreased.

Remittance inflows decreased by 0.5 per cent to Rs.875.03 billion in the FY 2019/20 against an increase of 16.5 per cent in the previous year.

Number of Nepali workers taking approval for foreign employment decreased by 20.5 per cent in the last fiscal. It had decreased by 32.6 percent in the previous year.

Similarly, net transfer income decreased by 1.3 per cent to Rs.982.22 billion in the review year. Such income had increased by15.0 per cent in the previous year.

 

Current account deficit goes down

The current account deficit decreased by 87.9 per cent to Rs.32.06 billion last year while such deficit was Rs.265.36 billion in the previous year.

Capital transfer decreased by 8.1 per cent to Rs.14.21 billion and net foreign direct investment (FDI) increased by 49.1 per cent to Rs.19.48 billion. In the previous year, capital transfer and net FDI amounted to Rs.15.46 billion and Rs.13.06 billion respectively.

Balance of Payments (BOP) remained at a surplus of Rs.282.41 billion in the review year against a deficit of Rs.67.4 billion in the previous year.

Gross foreign exchange reserves increased by 34.9 per cent to Rs.1401.84 billion in mid-July 2020 from Rs.1038.92 billion in mid-July 2019.

 

Domestic credit decreased

Domestic credit expanded by 13.6 per cent in the review year compared to a growth of 21.1 per cent in the previous year. Claims on private sector increased by 12.6 per cent in the review year compared to a growth of 19.1 per cent in the previous year.

Deposits at Banks and Financial Institutions (BFIs) increased by 18.7 per cent in the review year compared to an increase of 18 per cent in the previous year.

The share of demand, saving, and fixed deposits in total deposits stands at 10 per cent, 31.9 per cent and 48.6 per cent respectively in mid-July 2020. Such shares were 9.7 per cent, 32.8 per cent and 46.3 per cent respectively a year ago.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 August 2020. 

Valley municipalities brace to stem virus transmission

Kathmandu, Aug 24

The Valley Municipal Forum has decided to make preparations for contact tracing and testing of suspected, probable, confirmed and close contact high risk cases of the coronavirus.

A two-day meeting of the forum has decided to expedite activities to contain the contagion of COVID-19.

"We will expand contact tracing and testing base in all the municipalities in the Kathmandu Valley to check the spread of the coronavirus," said Bidhya Sundar Shakya, chairman of the forum and Mayor of the Kathmandu Metropolis. "The current shutdown period will be utilised for robust contact tracing in the hotspots."

The meeting was attended by KMC Mayor Shakya, Vice-chair of the Forum and Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolis Chiri Babu Maharjan, and Secretary of the Forum and Mayor of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality Madan Sundar Shrestha.

Shakya said that community level transmission of the disease in the federal Capital would create a havoc in administration and many other works. Therefore, the forum had planned to move ahead united to expedite contact tracing and virus testing in the valley. The dense settlements in various parts of the cities in the valley create a fertile ground for easy and rapid transmission of the virus.

"We will make a provision to treat everyone testing positive for the virus. People who are not in the circle of contact tracing but have exhibited the symptoms of COVID-19 would be tested and treated," said Shakya.

Secretary Shrestha said that the forum had planned for contact tracing of 15,000 to 20,000 people on a daily basis.

He said that the people were urged to stay in their home. “If we don’t do something important to check the spread of the virus, there may not be another occasion in the future for contact tracing and testing.”  

"If we see the practice in other countries, the tracing and testing should be expedited during the shutdown or lockdown period. We will follow the same scientific method," he said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 August 2020. 

National symposium on post-quake reconstruction begins

Kathmandu, Aug. 24

 A four-day national symposium on post-earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation has begun on Monday.

 The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) is organising the symposium on virtual platform to share its experiences, good practices and lessons learnt in the last five years of post-earthquake reconstruction.

 It will run till Thursday, August 27.

 The symposium aims to bring together various stakeholders, including development partners, various organizations, experts and individuals, involved in the reconstruction to develop a common view on the successes, achievements and the lessons learnt during the five years of reconstruction works, according to Dr. Chandra Bahadur Shrestha, Executive Committee member of the NRA and Coordinator of the International Conference Organizing Committee.

 The national symposium is being organized as part of the preparation to hold an international conference on the reconstruction and rehabilitation which is scheduled to be held later this year.

 Inaugurating the symposium, Chief Executive Officer of the NRA Sushil Gyawali said that there had been significant progress in the reconstruction of physical structures damaged in the April 2015 earthquake. He said the NRA was in the process of documenting the best practices and lessons learnt to make it available for future generations.

 CEO Gyawali informed that more than 90 per cent of the beneficiaries have now entered into the reconstruction process. Out of 790,000 beneficiaries signing agreement for the government grant, 603,000 (76 per cent) beneficiaries have received the third and final installment of the grant. More than 500,000 beneficiaries have completed building their houses.   

 Secretary at the NRA Ramkrishna Sapkota said that this symposium was a good opportunity to share NRA’s experiences with the concerned stakeholders.

 In the next four days, the symposium is set to hold deliberations on six thematic areas – private housing reconstruction; public and social infrastructure reconstruction; cultural heritage reconstruction; livelihood; rescue and relief; and good governance. Sixty different research papers will be presented during the symposium.

 The symposium is attended by representatives of various government agencies, donors and development partners, experts, earthquake-affected people, private sector and paper presenters, according to Manohar Ghimire, Deputy Spokesperson of the NRA and Member-Secretary of the International Conference Organizing Committee.

 On the inaugural day of the symposium today, four technical sessions were held and 15 working papers presented which focused on various aspects of the reconstruction of private housing, both in rural and urban areas. The working papers were also presented on structural engineering and retrofitting.

 The symposium will have four technical sessions every day. Four papers will be presented at every session that lasts for 90 minutes.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 August 2020. 

Municipal Forum prepares to expand the contact tracing and testing

Kathmandu, Aug 23

The Valley Municipal Forum has decided to expand the contact tracing and testing base in all the municipalities in the Kathmandu Valley.

Expressing its serious concerns to the probability of COVID-19 contagion to the community level in the valley, a meeting of the forum on Sunday had decided to this effect.

The meeting was attended by the Chairperson of the Forum and Mayor of Kathmandu Municipality Bidya Sundar Shakya, Vice-chair of the Forum and Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolis Chiri Babu Maharjan, and Secretary of the Forum and Mayor of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality Madan Sundar Shrestha.

"The number of coronavirus infected people has gone up significantly every day. If this situation persisted for some more days, the virus would make its way to the community," said Shakya.

He said that the community level transmission of the disease in the federal Capital would create havoc in administration and many other works. Therefore, the forum had plan to move unitedly ahead to expedite the contact tracing and virus testing in the valley. The dense settlement in various parts of the cities in the valley would create ground for the easy and rapid transmission of the virus.

A restriction order was issued in the valley four days ago with the increasing graph of the coronavirus patients. The local governments here have decided to utilise the restriction period to expand the contact tracing and testing base.

"We will make a provision to treat everyone tested positive to the virus. People who are not in the circle of contact tracing but have exhibited the symptoms of COVID-19 would be tested and treated," said Shakya.

The meeting will continue to make further decision regarding the matter.

Making continuous announcement through the loudspeaker in order to create awareness is also in the priority where the municipalities will appeal people with symptoms to contact the local governments.

Secretary Shrestha said that they would move ahead with a set time-table for the contact tracing and testing.

"We plan to contact tracing for 15,000 to 20,000 people. The meeting tomorrow will decide about details of the plan such as where to begin and when to conduct the testing," he said.

He said that the people were urged to stay in their home so if we don’t do something important to check the spread of the virus, there might not be better opportunity in the future.

The forum had interacted with the experts-including Dr. Khem Karki, public health advisor to the Health Minister Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal, Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, chief expert of the Health Ministry and director of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division at the Department of Health Services, Dr. Bashu Dev Pandey.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 24 August 2020. 

NRA to hold symposium on reconstruction experiences

Kathmandu, Aug. 23

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) is organising a national symposium to share the experiences, good practices and learnings in the post-quake reconstruction in the last five years after the Gorkha Earthquake 2015.

The web-based 'National Symposium on Nepal's Reconstruction (NSNR-2020)’ will be held from 24 to 27 August, Monday to Thursday.

According to the Executive Committee member and coordinator of the conference, Dr. Chandra Bahadur Shrestha, the programme is being organised to bring different agencies, partners, organisers, experts and individuals involved in the post-quake reconstruction and rehabilitation process to a single platform.

"We aim to assess the successes, achievements and weaknesses and create common opinion on the topic, and inform the international community about it," he said.  

This national dialogue is being organised as a preparation for the larger international conference to be organised in the future.

The symposium will deliberate on the topics like private house, public and social infrastructure, and cultural heritage reconstruction, livelihood, rescue and relief, and good governance. About 60 research papers will be presented in the symposium, said Dr. Shrestha.

Deputy Spokesperson of the NRA and Member Secretary of the Symposium Organising Committee Manohar Ghimire said that representatives of the government agencies including the NRA, donor agencies and development partners, thematic experts, quake-affected people, private sector and programmers will participate in the conference.

Interested individuals can contact the reconstruction body via email to participate in the symposium. It will have four technical sessions each day.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 24 August 2020. 

Development performance remains dismal despite claims for better outcome

Kathmandu, Aug. 22

It’s been about three years since the 456 Megawatt Upper Tamakoshi Hydroelectricity Project in Dolakha district had witnessed 99 per cent progress but the project will  take some more months to start power-generation as it missed the deadline of the last fiscal year.

After a decade of dilly dallying and contractor's deception, the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) was expected  to complete by the end of this year  despite the coronavirus pandemic but the recent accident with the gate damage has created doubts of its timely completion.

The Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa was announced to be completed by the end of 2019 and would start operation with the launch of the Visit Nepal Year 2020 but the project is still under construction while the national tourism campaign was scrapped immediately after the pandemic gripped the country and the globe.

These instances are enough to understand that infrastructure development in Nepal is a serious business with projects taking decades to implement and develop. Every government taking power had promised to give the much-needed impetus to the projects and complete them on time, but the result was never encouraging.

Examples are abundant with Melamchi, airports and Kathmandu-Terai Expressway projects being the crown in the failure. The expressway was finally handed to the Nepal Army as the government couldn't find the developer of the pride project about three years ago with a mandate to complete in four years.

However, the project had achieved only about 17 per cent progress before the pandemic hit the country while the process for critical infrastructure like the tunnels and bridges is not started yet. According to infrastructure experts, the project will witness multiple year time overrun.

West Seti Hydroelectricity Project is still in the conception phase after 23 years of announcement while the reservoir-based 1200 MW Budhigandaki Hydel Project is entangled in land acquisition works for the past several years.

There is a National Development Action Committee (NDAC) led by the Prime Mister and coordinated by the Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission that works as the oversight mechanism for the large-scale infrastructure and development projects. Likewise, the development ministries like the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Development (MoPIT), Ministry for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA), and Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI) have Ministry-Level DAC to discuss the challenges faced by the projects and address them.

Unfortunately, these mechanisms seem to be dysfunctional. Despite regular ministry-level NDAC, the pride projects under the MoCTCA are continuously lagging.

Meanwhile, the Millennium Challenge Account Nepal which is developing cross-border transmission lines and upgrading roads with the US support is listed as the pride project. It is in controversy from the very beginning and already failed to launch the project on the announced date of June 30 this year.

The root cause of delay in the poor performance of the development projects begins with poor preparedness. "Most of the projects are started or contracted out without completing land acquisition, resolving the forest and environment issues. It creates multiple problems when the project formally begins," said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, former Secretary of the Infrastructure Ministry.

He also said that poor resource allocation and weak inter-agency coordination had resulted in pathetic development performance.

Likewise, experts, including Situala, mentioned non-performing contractors, weak engineering and poor supervision and quality control as reasons behind the dismal progress. The multilateral donor Asian Development Bank, financer of the MWSP, was so much annoyed with the unaccountable bureaucrats and their frequent transfers that it had expressed the grievances with the press. It is one of the issues that was frequently raised in the NDAC meeting as well.

However, the country has no dedicated supervision and quality control mechanism and agency to monitor and evaluate the projects and facilitate in the course.

Experts suggest resource assurance to the projects, responsible and accountable bureaucracy, and practical cooperation among the government agencies as the remedy to the sick projects. The problem has been so acute that the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had conducted a study last year to look into the matter and found that majority of the large and medium size projects were sick. The anti-graft body had found that 1,032 infrastructure projects were sick, but the contractors had siphoned off about Rs. 24 billion as 20 per cent mobilisation cost.

"The ministries and development agencies must have better coordination, and the government must give directions to the vital offices like District Forest Office, Nepal Electricity Authority in clear terms to support the projects," said Sitaula.

However, the NPC said that it was putting in its efforts to facilitate the projects.

 

Coronavirus fallout  

Amidst the challenging situation during the coronavirus outbreak, the Investment Board of Nepal (IBN), the one-door facilitator for large-scale projects, and the NPC are facilitating the infrastructure projects to make sure that they continue to make progress.

"We are updating the statistics of the development projects including the pride projects. The challenges posed by COVID-19 will be discussed in the NDAC meeting that will be organised soon," said Kishor Joshi, Joint Secretary of National Planning Commission (NPC).

He said that though most of the projects were not obstructed due to the coronavirus, their speed had been compromised due to the labour and material crises which would result in time and cost overrun.

Likewise, the IBN was active from the very beginning of the pandemic. "We have asked the projects facilitated by the IBN to discuss the challenges with us so that we can sort them out together," said Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, Spokesperson of the IBN.

The board is extending quick response online to help the projects to manage equipment, materials and human resources. It also has been continuing the follow-up work regarding the Investment Summit organised last year.

However, both the agencies are yet to calculate the financial losses incurred by the infrastructure projects due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 August 2020. 

UN, DFID partner to scale up response to COVID-19 pandemic

 Kathmandu, Aug. 21

The United Nations in Nepal and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) said on Friday that they have strengthened their partnership to enhance the UN’s approach to emergency preparedness and scale-up response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having far reaching impacts globally, including in Nepal, which is already vulnerable to natural disasters - the compounded impact goes beyond just the health crisis.  “This package of support will enable the UN to reach those impacted by COVID-19 and at the same time, prepare for any crisis Nepal may face in the future, in support of the government,” they said in a statement.

More than 30,483 people have been tested positive for COVID-19 in Nepal till Friday and 137 people have lost their lives because of the virus.

Likewise, as of 19 August, floods and landslides triggered by the monsoon rain have killed 241 people 88 have gone missing.  

“Beyond supporting the government’s response to both COVID-19 and monsoon-related crises, the UN is also working to develop national and local disaster management capacity through its cluster co-leadership role, and is committed to jointly plan and prepare for emergency response in Nepal this year and beyond,” they said.

Under these new programmes, the UK will provide financial and technical support to tackle the outbreak of COVID-19 and scale up the UN’s ability to prepare effectively for future emergencies.

The UN and DFID said that the supports include coronavirus contact tracing teams, health screening monitoring and data management, supporting telemedicine, providing personal protective equipment for frontline health service providers, and ensuring health facilities can continue to provide sexual and reproductive health services.

Likewise, providing psychosocial support to survivors of gender based violence, supporting more than 35,000 children and pregnant and lactating women to prevent malnutrition, provide warehousing at 3 Humanitarian Staging Areas across the country and transport for key supplies, and supporting water and sanitation in health and quarantine facilities are the other support services in which the agencies have cooperated with the government.

“This is a welcome step towards the commitments made by members states, including by Nepal, to the UN Secretary-General’s reform agenda which reaffirms the role of the UN Resident Coordinator in country-level coordination to deliver collective responses to the national needs and priorities by bringing the UN system together,” said Valerie Julliand, United Nations Resident Coordinator. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 22 August 2020. 

Central bank urges BFIs to focus on financial stability

Kathmandu, Aug 21

Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) should focus on financial stability and interest rate stability in order to enhance their credibility and create better business and investment climate, said the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

Increasing confidence of the depositors is also equally important in order to maintain the liquidity in the system, Dr. Gunakar Bhatta, Spokesperson of the NRB, said at a webinar on ‘Monetary Policy: Challenges ahead and way forward’ organised by Management Association of Nepal on Friday.

He also maintained that the liquidity in the system would also be maintained by the foreign financial support as the multilateral agencies have been providing crucial support to the country after the pandemic outbreak.

“The government will manage budget for the infrastructure development through the foreign aid even if the revenue dwindled,” he said.

Dr. Bhatta said that the BFIs will have the interest benefit due to the coronavirus impact and lockdown but at the cost of the economic growth. According to him, 6-7 per cent inflation and 10-11 per cent lending rates are expected this year.

He said that the monetary policy for the current fiscal year 2020/21 had tried to reinstall the business confidence during the crisis, but the prolonged pandemic situation and lockdown would demand further stimulus due to the looming uncertainty. The policy has also addressed the exorbitant interest rates in the microfinance.

He suggested to continue with the development activities even during the coronavirus pandemic to provide the minimum fuel to the economy.

Dr. Bhatta said that the refinancing facility could be utilised five times of its actual size which was a great opportunity, however, the implementation part did have some challenges. “We are trying to manage monetary policy instruments,” he said.

He suggested the BFIs to begin creating environment to mobilise the capital to the priority sectors so that good business could be generated when the situation returns to normalcy.

The central bank through the monetary policy has accorded priority to the agriculture, energy, and small and medium enterprises.

Bhuvan Kumar Dahal, President of Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA), said that the banking and private sectors’ demands for the instruments of confidence building and the policy were addressed. It was a policy departure, he said.

According to him, refinancing mobilisation from every branch of the bank is a good policy as it will ensure that the businesses of smaller sizes and in the remote areas will also be benefitted.

However, he said that since banks’ administrative cost was high, the interest for the refinancing should be at 7 per cent to motivate the banks.

“However we are ready to mobilise it at 5 per cent, the rate set by the central bank,” he maintained.

Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), said that refinancing limit for tourism sector business will be too small and might not address the challenges of the sector since it was the highly affected by the pandemic.

Economist Prof. Dr. Chandra Bhadra said that entrepreneurs running micro and cottage enterprises don’t have good access to the banking and the promotion of digital banking will not benefit them as they don’t have the devices that are required to access the modern banking services.

“Women entrepreneurs are not well documented and the government doesn’t know their whereabouts. Most of the micro and cottage entrepreneurs even don’t know about the facilities announced by the central bank,” she said.

She suggested the government to identify the returnee women migrant workers and provide financial support to them to run business. Such interventions should be implemented at the ward level.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 22 August 2020. 

Reliance, Samaj issue IPO

 Kathmandu Aug 20

Reliance Life Insurance Company and Samaj Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha have issued their Initial Public Offering (IPO) from Thursday. 

Reliance Life Insurance has issued 6.3 million units of shares worth Rs. 630 million and Samaj Laghubitta has issued 86,000 units of shares worth Rs. 8.6 million. The per unit price of the share is Rs. 100.

Reliance has allocated 5 per cent or 315,000 units shares for the mutual funds, 5 per cent for its staff and the remaining 5.67 million will be open for the public.

Likewise, Samaj has allocated 1,000 units of shares for its staff and 4,300 units for mutual funds. Remaining 80,700 units will be sold to the public.

Public can apply for the IPO until coming Monday, August 24. The application time can be extended to 3 September if all the shares are not sold within the first deadline. Investors can apply for minimum 10 units to maximum 63,000 units of shares of Reliance.

Similarly, the application limit for the Samaj is minimum 10 units to maximum 5,000 units.

Given the trend of more than half a million application for most of the IPOs, Samaj's IPO would be oversubscribed manifold since only 80,7000 units are open to the public. Likewise, the investors are likely to get only 10 units per person through lottery system.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 21 August 2020. 

BIFIN to help banks recruit manpower

Kathmandu, Aug 21

Banking Finance and Insurance Institute of Nepal Limited (BIFIN) has launched a separate initiative bfinjobs.com to operate the recruitment related work for the banking and finance sector.

The institute has been conducting the training for human resource development and the new service will select the work force required for the banks and financial institutions (BFIs).

“We have launched the new service to operate a one-door system for the development and recruitment of human resources. It will support the companies in finding the right human resources,” it said.

The new programme will offer services, including executive search, job posting, shortlisting, examining and interview, interim management, salary/compensation, independent reference check and advertisement.

BIFIN has offered up to 75 per cent discount in the newly offered services till September end.

BIFIN is promoted by 16 institutions, including Emerging Nepal Limited, commercial banks, development banks, finance companies, microfinance institutions and capital market organisations.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 22 August 2020. 

Share of on-budget foreign support gradually growing

Kathmandu, Aug. 19

The foreign aid is increasingly coming as budgetary support, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

Chief of the International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division at the Ministry Shreekrishna Nepal said that off-budget foreign support had decreased and on-budget support had increased in the last fiscal year 2019/20.

The government has adopted the policy of accepting the bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation through the budgetary programmes.

Last year, the country received Rs. 89 billion foreign aid, about Rs. 55 billion higher than the previous year. In FY 2018/19, the total inflow of foreign support was Rs. 34 billion while it was Rs. 21 billion the year before.

Likewise, the technical cooperation went down to US$ 210 million in the last fiscal from $263 a year earlier, said Nepal while speaking in a webinar organised by the Society of Economic Journalists Nepal.

"The government has been trying to bring all types of cooperation under the fiscal system which has resulted in increasing on-budget cooperation," he said. "Despite that, technical grant is still mobilised out of the budgetary system. We need it due to skill capacity gap in various sectors."

Similarly, he said that the country's public debt had reached Rs. Rs. 1,346 billion – Rs. 613 billion domestic and Rs. 733 foreign loan.

The public debt amounted to about 30 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product in previous years but it has now gone up to 36 per cent due to the unexpected impact of coronavirus pandemic on the economy.

Meanwhile, the government has repaid the loan of about Rs. 83 billion last year. The amount is about 11 per cent of the revenue collected and 30 per cent of the Foreign Direct Investment.

According to Nepal, there was no set standard about the limit of the public debt a country should accept, rather its appropriate use should be the focus. The country also needs to address the challenges in the implementation of various development aids. "We have to prioritise the expenditure and focus on the projects that support in economic rehabilitation," he said.

Meanwhile, the government has achieved about 6 per cent of the target in revenue collection till 18 August, 2 days after the end of the first month of the current fiscal year.

The Financial Comptroller General Office reported that the total revenue collection till Tuesday stood at Rs. 61.37 billion. Likewise, total expenditure till yesterday amounted to Rs. 69.5 billion, 6.48 per cent of the total budget – Rs. 1,474.6 billion. However, the capital expenditure is just 0.04 per cent.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 August 2020. 

KTO organises webinar to promote Korean tourism

 Kathmandu, Aug 19

Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), in association with TravTalk, has organised a webinar for Nepal travel trade on Wednesday.

The webinar was organised to highlight the beautiful regions of Korea that would be ideal for the Nepali tourists and travellers.

Marketing Manager of the KTO Sandeep Dutta said that South Korea was a major attraction for vacation and recreation as well as family visits.

"About 52 per cent tourists visit S. Korea for vacation and recreation while 19 per cent for business and professional activities and 11 per cent for shopping. However, more than two-thirds of them are involved in shopping activities and food tours," he said.

The main destinations in Korea are Seoul, Busan, Jeju-do and Gyeonggi-do and Incheon while Gangwon-do, Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do and Jeollabuk-do are considered as the secondary destinations.

Dutta said that a 3 night 4 days tour package to South Korea could be bought at US$300-400.

Likewise, Young Geul Choi, Deputy Director of the KTO, said that abound with UNESCO World Heritage sites many of which are ancient Buddhist temples or house scriptures, South Korea is a heaven for the curious tourist.

A visit to South Korea would not be complete if one didn’t get to see or visit the top attractions that need to be in every discerning travellers’ bucket list, he said.

The most searched for attractions in Korea are Gyeongbokgung Palace, Namsan Seoul Tower, Bukchon Hanok Village, Namiseom Island, Lotte World, Changdeokgung Palace and Huwon, Hongdae, Insa-dong, Busan Gamcheon Culture Village and Myeong-dong.

Basanta Mishra, chairman of Nepal Association of Tour Operators and Chairman of Nepal PATA Chapter, said that South Korea is a country with pristine nature and modern development and Nepalis visiting it have pleasant memories.

S. Korea and Nepal have enjoyed 46 years of bilateral diplomatic relations. The former has become a partner in Nepal's economic development and attractive destination for Nepali workers.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 August 2020. 

NIBL adds remittance services

 Kathmandu, Aug 19

Nepal Investment Bank Ltd. and WireBarley Corp. have signed an agreement for remittance service to facilitate Nepali expatriates working in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States of America.

It will help them send remittance back home to their families.

This service can be used from mobile app or online portal of WireBarley. The app is available in Google Playstore.

NIBL said that in during the pandemic situation, this service could be helpful in sending remittance home safely.

Nepalis in Nepal can receive the remittance from more than 10,000 paying outlets of Prithivi Remit - the online remittance service of NIBL.

If the sender wants to deposit the money in the bank account of anyone in Nepal, it can be done instantly.

NIBL is offering the remittance services from Nepal to various countries, including India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, United States of America, South Korea as well as European countries.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 August 2020. 

Lending of commercial banks declines

 Kathmandu, Aug 18

The first month of the current fiscal year 2020/21 has witnessed a sharp decline in lending by the commercial banks, returning to the negative growth trend a couple of months earlier.

The class ‘A’ commercial banks have mobilised Rs. 2878 billion credit till Shrawan (mid-August 2020) which was Rs. 2903 billion in mid-July. The Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) said that the lending was about Rs. 25 billion negative to that of the previous month, the last of the FY 2019/20.

Credit mobilisation had slipped to negative growth in mid-April to mid-May and mid-May to mid-June although it was in the positive growth trajectory rest of the year. It decreased by Rs. 9 billion by mid-May and by Rs. 20 billion in mid-June. The highest amount of credit mobilisation was made in the last month of the last fiscal year with the growth of Rs. 87 billion.

This is the fourth month in the last five years the commercial banks’ lending slipped in to the negative growth. Earlier, it had witnessed a decrease by Rs. 3 billion in mid-July to mid-August in 2017/18.

Likewise, the deposits decreased by Rs. 8 billion and reached Rs. 3479 billion in mid-August from Rs. 3487 in mid-July this year. The deposits had caught negative trend in the first month of the last fiscal year as well when it decreased by Rs. 23 billion.

The deposits and lending have gone down in foreign currency terms as well. Deposits have decreased by Rs. 13 billion in mid-August and reached Rs. 112 billion compared to mid-July while the lending has gone down to Rs. 91 billion from Rs. 97 billion from the previous month.

According to the NBA, the lockdown and shutdown and disturbances in the business as well as industry operations following the coronavirus outbreak about five months ago had contributed to the decline.

The trend is likely to continue given the resurgence of the pandemic and various restrictive measures imposed across the countries, especially in the industrial and business areas. Most of the metropolis and sub-metropolis have imposed lockdown, shutdown and even curfew to force people to stay at home and maintain social distancing in order to contain the spread of the virus.

In the last five years, the lending has increased to almost Rs. 2.89 trillion from Rs.1.08 trillion in mid-July 2015/16. Similarly, the deposits have increased to about Rs. 3.47 trillion from Rs. 1.45 trillion in July 2015/16.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 August 2020.