Kathmandu Marriott launches Edamame

Kathmandu, Aug 2

Kathmandu Marriott Hotel has launched a new restaurant 'Edamame'.

The hotel held an exclusive dinner with the guests, including Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Pur and Thai Ambassador to Nepal Owat Suthiwathanaruput, on Thursday evening.

The dishes served were a contemporary interpretation of Thai, Japanese and Chinese cuisines.

“Edmame is a relaxed, upscale, modern Asian specialty restaurant offering a vibrant array of Japanese, Chinese and Thai delicacies that oscillates between innovative and modern culinary arts,” said the hotel.

The restaurant also features a yakitori grill, live sushi bar, dim sum station and a bar that serves Asian inspired cocktails.

“We want to take you into realms of Asia with its stunning décor, intricate patterns, plush fabrics, and exotic Asian art, said Jean Louis Ripoche, General Manager of the hotel.”

The design gives an ancient world sense with a tad of mystery and the space is alienated into aesthetically distinct cosmoses to offer an inimitable dining experience.

“At Edamame Executive Chef, Sanjeev Ranjan and Chef Ninja ensure that every ingredient is sourced from best quality produce and holds its place and purpose, it is treated with care to highlight its purest flavor using their mastered culinary skills to ensure every experience is memorable,” said Ripoche.

Edmame opened its doors to the public on 28 of July. It opens 6.30pm onwards.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 3 August 2019. 

Province 3 increases milk grant

Makwanpur, Aug 2

Province 3 is increasing investment in animal husbandry to make the province self-reliant in agriculture and animal development.

It has increased the milk grant with an aim to attract more farmers to take up animal husbandry.

The Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of the province has decided to increase the milk grant from the current fiscal year 2019/20.

Nirmal Gadal, Spokesperson of the Ministry, said that the grant on milk has been raised to Rs. 120 million in this fiscal while the grant amount in the last FY was just Rs. 15.5 million.

“The provincial government had announced to provide Rs. 1 grant to farmers for every litre of milk but due to the lack of budget we could distribute 51 paisa per litre,” he said.

The government aims at motivating farmers to take up animal farming.

The government had distributed the grant in seven district through 149 cooperatives – 74 in Chitwan, 22 each in Kavre and Lalitpur, 2 in Dolakkha and one each in Dhading and Nuwakot district.

Meanwhile, the Ministry had distributed Rs. 65 million in grants in the last fiscal to promote the marketing of animal and animal related products. Rs. 6.5 million was distributed to three feed industries in Chitwan, Dolakha and Makwanpur districts.

Likewise, Rs. 8.67 million was allocated to various cooperatives and local units to develop 13 slaughter houses across the province – three each in Chitwan and Dhading, one each in Sindhuli and Dolakha and five in Lalitpur.

Rs. 15 million was mobilised in grants to construct such facilities in Chitwan, Lalitpur and Makwanpur. 

Similarly, Rs. 15 million was distributed to buy 23 chilling vat machine in seven district of the province. 

By TRN Makwanpur Correspondent. 

Drop in vehicle, petroleum import hits revenue collection

Kathmandu, Aug. 1

Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada has said that revenue collection was lower last year because of the government policy to discourage the import of goods that were contributing to widening trade deficit.


"The government wanted to discourage the import of goods that were hurting the country's balance of payment and contributing to the widening trade deficit so it applied measures to check the import of luxury goods like vehicles," he said while speaking at a two-day Customs Management Seminar organised by the Department of Customs (DoC).


He said that the reduced import of vehicles and petroleum affected the revenue collection at the customs in Fiscal Year 2018/19. Similarly, increased electricity supply has resulted in decreased import of petroleum products, one of the major sources of revenue.


He urged the Nepali business community to produce more competitive goods and find international markets to sell them.


"The government has adopted a policy to promote domestic industries and products. So I urge the private sector to focus on increasing the production and export of Nepali goods," said FM Dr. Khatiwada.


He said that anti-dumping and countervailing duties act was in the parliament and it soon would be implemented. This will contribute to the protection of the domestic industries.  


According to him, the government was working to formalise the informal trade happening at the Nepal-India border.


"Trade with the neighbouring countries is still a large grey area. Banking channels are not being utilised in bilateral trade with India and China. The government does not know the exact size of the trade," he said.


He said that the government was enhancing the capacity of the Armed Police Force to monitor the border activities. “Sensitive areas in terms of smuggling are in the priority.”


Rajan Khanal, Finance Secretary, said that customs valuation model for the goods should be according to the Asycuda – a digital customs system - modelled and managed digitally.


"When the transition, movement and transaction of goods are tracked well and transparent, black marketing will automatically be controlled," he said.


Khanal urged the business community to start discussion about increasing the product and promoting export.


According to him, the business community should think about producing more competitive goods and finding their foreign markets.


Rameshwor Dangal, Director General of the Department of Customs (DoC), said that the broker model was applied in Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani customs, which had made the goods movement fast and transparent.


Rajesh Kazi Shrestha, President of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, demanded that there should be no customs evaluation, but the duty should be according to the transaction price.


"We want e-payment and e-Letter of Credit facilities so that the goods could be released without any hassles, and we can do so from our own offices," he said.


Satish Kumar More, President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), stressed on refining the perishable goods and producing high quality exportable goods.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 2 August 2019. 

Govt building reconstruction at halfway

Kathmandu, July 31

Only 70 structures of the 415 government and public buildings damaged by the devastating earthquake of 2015 have been rebuilt so far. 

About 162 buildings were completely damaged and needed reconstruction and 253 were partially damaged which are being retrofitted. 

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) said that the retrofitting of all buildings had completed.

"The government rebuilt 30 buildings from its sources while 40 structures were reconstructed with the support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB)," said the NRA. 

About 21 buildings being built by the government and 29 with the ADB support will be completed by mid-January 2020, said Navaraj Pyakurel, Director of the Central Project Implementation Unit (Buildings). 

The reconstruction body said that the process had been initiated to construct the remaining structures. Construction agreement has been signed for the Sajha Publication, Gorkhapatra Corporation and Radio Nepal's buildings, and tender notice is published for the construction of the houses at the western gate of the Singha Durbar. 

Procurement notice for the construction of the Integrated Administrative Building in Lalitpur has been published recently. Likewise, jails in Gorkha, Sindhupalchowk, Lamjung, Rasuwa, Okhaldhunga and Solukhumbu districts are in the process to be reconstructed. 

The administrative buildings and jails will be rebuilt with the loan support from the Exim Bank India.

Chief Executive Officer of the NRA Sushil Gyawali said that about Rs. 8.28 billion was spent on the reconstruction and retrofitting of the public buildings.

Retrofitting of the SAARC Secretariat has completed while the eastern, western and northern parts of the Singha Durbar are being retrofitted, and a tender notice is published for the retrofitting of its western part. Similarly, tender notice is published for the retrofitting of Bal Mandir, Kaisher Mahal and Central Law Library.

Likewise, Shital Niwas (President's Office) Bahadur Bhawan (former Office of the Vice-President) and buildings of Tri-Chandra College are in the designing phase of retrofitting. Buildings of Nepal Rastra Bank in Baluwatar and Thapathali are now under construction.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 1 August 2019. 

Adhikari designated CNI spokesperson

Kathmandu, July 30

The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has designated its Vice-President Krishna Prasad Adhikari as the spokesperson of the organisation.

Assuming the new responsibility on Tuesday, Adhikari said that he would work to establish economic agenda raised by the private sector and enhance the roles of CNI in order to create interventions on ecnomic issues.

“I will concentrate my efforts to create and strengthen cooperation and collaboration with the government and private sector agencies,” he said.

Adhikari has already served as the president of the Association of Chitwan Industries and is working to expand the network of CNI, the association of large manufacturing and business enterpriese.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 July 2019. 

Govt active in curbing corruption: PM

Kathmandu, July 30

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said on Sunday that the government was active in curbing corruption. 

“It is not that corruption has increased now, but it has been so due to the arrest of increasing number of the corrupt officials,” he said while talking with a delegation led by former Deputy Prime Minister Chitra Bahadur KC, chair of Rastriya Janamorcha.

He said that the government wouldn’t spare any corrupt individual and would not favour any high officials due to their high posts. 

PM Oli reiterated that the government wouldn’t spare anyone who had encroached the public land and all invaded land and occupied by land-mafia would be brought to the government’s ownership through legal remedies. 

“The investigation on Lalita Niwas land was initiated by the present government but some people are making hue and cry as if the land was encroached by the government itself,” he said. “What did the previous governments do regarding the land scam? It is a pity that the same leaders are blaming us,” he added. 

The KC-led delegation had met the PM to demand the establishment of an Area Administration Office in Galkot of Baglung district. 

Accepting the memorandum from the leader, PM Oli said that he was positive about developing the office in Galkot since the government had the policy to provide hassle free and fast service to all people. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 July 2019. 

DoC to set referenc interest rate for cooperatives

Kathmandu, July 30

The Department of Cooperatives (DoC) is all set to implement the reference interest rate for the cooperatives. 


Dr. Tok Raj Pandey, Registrar of the DoC, said on Tuesday that the DOC would implement the interest rates at any cost. “Feelings and emotions do not deter us from practising the interest rate. The reference rate will be announced soon,” he said while speaking at a discussion programme on ‘Setting reference interest rates for cooperatives’ organised by the Nepal Society of Cooperative Journalists. 


According to him, the department is having discussion with the stakeholders about the reference interest rate and it will be implemented anytime in the near future. 


“No pressure would stop us from the responsibility of setting the rate as per the Cooperatives Act, 2074,” he said. Although the reference interest rate was mentioned in the Cooperatives Act 2074, it is yet to be decided. 


The practice of the reference rate will increase the contribution of the cooperatives to the financial sector and support in entrepreneurship development. He said that despite complexity of the issue, the department was near to finalising the number. 


Keshab Prasad Badal, president of National Cooperative Federation of Nepal (NCFN), said that the interest rate of the cooperatives should not be above 16.5 per cent. 


He advocated for high interest rates and said that below 16.5 per cent interest rate would create challenges in the part of cooperatives. 


“Setting reference interest rates for cooperatives has become essential but it must not go below that level. The NCFN had recommended 17.5 per cent interest,” he said. However, he maintained that the cooperatives must not go haywire from their principle, they must focus on quality services. 


This is not something imposed on us by the government, it is a necessary thing for the cooperatives campaign, said Badal. He suggested that the cooperatives that cannot run healthily should go for a merger. 


He warned the cooperatives aspiring to go for a banking system and said that they should stick to the cooperatives principles. “They don’t have right to deviate from the principles and norms,” he said. 


Director of the Nepal Rastra Bank Narendra Bista said that since the cooperative were mobilising loan at lower interest rates, it could be brought down. “But it would not be scientific to bring down the rate from 24-25 per cent to 12-13 per cent,” he said. 


He said that leaving the interest rate to the free market had created challenges even in the banking sector.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 July 2019.