Household taps to dispense Melamchi water from Sunday

Kathmandu, Apr. 19

The Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) is making preparations to send water from the Melamchi Water supply Project (MWSP) to the households in the Kathmandu Valley from coming Sunday.

"If things went as planned and projected, we will be able to supply water to our consumers in the next five days," said Prakash Kumar Rai, Deputy Manager of KUKL.

Earlier, the Ministry of Water Supply had announced that the water from the Melamchi in Sindhupalchok would be brought to the valley on the first day of the Nepali New Year, 2079. Tuesday is the 6^th day of the year.

KUKL's supply pipeline network is ready to pump water but in the first phase, water would be transmitted through the old network. However, households connected with the new supply network could get the water depending upon the amount of water arriving in the Kathmandu valley.

Rai said that the water utility had designed the supply plan in a way it would benefit maximum consumers.

The MWSP had sent water to the tunnel last week and the water reached Sundarijal side in the valley on Tuesday. The water will be held in the tunnel for about five days to get it filled and clean up.

According to Bashu Dev Paudyal, Executive Director of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board, it will take maximum five days to fill up the 26.5 km long tunnel of the project.

He said that that after filling the tunnel, the water would be flown to the treatment plant in Sundarijal and within 5-6 hours it would be sent to the distribution networks.

Meanwhile, the work to clean the debris deposited by the floods and landslide upstream of the Melamchi River in Sindhupalchowk on July 15 last year. Head works and a part of tunnel of the national pride project were damaged in the disasters caused by torrential rains. The structures were buried about 15 metres down in the debris.

The work to restore the project had begun by the end of January this year. "About 75 per cent debris is removed from the site and top of head works is visible now. The site would be cleared and assessment would be conducted before the coming monsoon," said Paudyal.

When the floods hit the head works, project had completed the construction of civil works of the head works and only a small amount of hydro-mechanical and electrical work was remaining.

Earlier, on 2 April 2021, President Bidya Devi Bhandari had inaugurated the distribution of Melamchi water by letting a tap flow at the Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu.

The project was conceptualized about five decades ago and construction was started about two decades ago. It witnessed multiple deadline extensions and cost overrun, which has almost doubled by now. In the first phase, the project is supposed to bring about 170 million litres of water a day in Kathmandu.

In the second phase, 340 million litres of water from Yangri and Larke rivers would be added to the system. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 April 2022. 

WHO Director General arriving tomorrow

Kathmandu, Apr. 19

Director General of World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is paying a visit to Nepal from Thursday to Saturday.

He is coming here at the invitation of Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in a statement on Tuesday.  

Dr. Tedros will be accompanied by Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO South East Asia Regional Office, and other officials of the WHO.   

During the visit, he will call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, and chairman of National Assembly Ganesh Prashad Timilsina.

 The visiting Director General will also meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Narayan Khadka and Health Minister Khatiwada. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 April 2022. 

Young Women Entrepreneurs' Summit to be held on Apr 23

Kathmandu, Apr. 19

Nepalese Young Entrepreneurs' Forum (NYEF) is organising Young Entrepreneurs’ Summit - Women (YESW) in the capital on April 23.

The flagship event of NYEF has been organised since 2013. "The event is being organised with the objective of showcasing women entrepreneurs running businesses in different sectors. This year, YESW-2022 is taking place with the theme - Beyond Barriers," NYEF said in a statement.

The event is expected to draw 150 or more participants, including entrepreneurs, working professionals, experts, startups and students.

Sangita Pandey from Aamako Achar, President of Federation Women Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal (FWEAN) Neeru Rayamajhi Khatri, Vidhusi Rana from Goldstar, Subhash Sharma from F1soft International, and Aanchal Kunwar, CEO of Daraz Nepal are among the panel's speakers.

The event will also feature up-and-coming startups and new ventures such as BiheNepal, Educase, Makkuse, and Suiro led by young women entrepreneurs.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 April 2022. 

Economy in urgent need of transformation: FM

 Kathmandu, Apr. 15

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma said on Friday that the Nepali economy immediately needed transformation in agriculture and government mechanism to implement development programmes.

"The country is lagging in terms of development and growth and currently facing economic challenges because it has failed to manage available resources. There are challenges in utilization of the resources," he said in a meeting with the Nepal Association of Financial Journalists (NAFIJ) at his office.

According to him, revolutionary changes are needed to transform the agriculture sector in order to make it able to substitute the imports that has reached Rs. 300 billion a year. The country is facing pressures on its foreign currency reserves as it is importing the goods that could be grown here.

FM Sharma had initiated his budget-related discussions from agriculture. He believes that the national economy could be strengthened with the development in agriculture, reduction in the imports of petroleum fuel, increase in the generation and consumption of hydroelectricity, and attraction of tourists to Nepal.

Similarly, the government mechanism to implement development budget need an overhaul. Although the country has been ushered to the federalism, the mentality of bureaucracy and leadership is centralized which has created challenge in implementing the rights devolved to the subnational governments, he said while adding, "Reforms are needed to change this scenario. The country wouldn't gain much from the current structure."

FM Sharma expressed worry over the high inflation rates which has severe repercussion on the foreign currency reserves leading to economic challenge for the country. According to him, the country had paid about Rs. 100 billion for petroleum imports although the quantity of goods is more or less the same. Nepal imports petroleum fuel worth about Rs. 1 billion a day. Meanwhile, the government has planned to reduce the use of fossil fuel by 20 per cent in its applications.

Likewise, hike in the price of goods like iron and steel, cooking oil, and vehicle spare parts had inflicted additional burden to the balance of payment.

"We are also planning to shift the subsidy given to the LP gas to the electric cooking appliances in order to strengthen the national economy by reducing imports," said the finance minister.

He said that his vision is to develop Nepal as a productive economy and upcoming budget will have programmes and projects to support this theme.

Meanwhile, FM Sharma indicated that the claims of COVID-19 insurance would be paid in near future.  However, he did not disclose the details.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 16 April 2022. 

After SC order NRB Governor Adhikari to resume office today

Kathmandu, Apr. 19

The Supreme Court on Sunday issued an interim order in the name of the Prime Minister's Office asking the latter not to implement the decision to form an inquiry committee which automatically suspended Governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Maha Prasad Adhikari.

In its order, the SC said that the governor should be allowed to perform his responsibility. Citing the Nepal Rastra Bank Act, 2002, it said that the committee formed to conduct an investigation into Governor Adhikari was against the law.

The interim order issued by the single bench of Justice Hari Phuyal has paved the way for Adhikari to resume his duties until the final verdict.

Governor Adhikari had filed a writ petition at the SC against his suspension.

According to the Apex Court, the issue of governor's dismissal is related to the stability of the entire economy, NRB and monetary policy.

It has summoned both the parties to the court to explain their cases.

 Meanwhile, Governor Adhikari said that he would resume his office from Wednesday.

The government had formed an inquiry committee on the governor on April 8. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 April 2022. 

Access to online payment sees a boost

Kathmandu, Apr. 17

Access to online payment system and its usage witnessed a significant progress from mid-February to mid-March this year with a growth of Rs. 37 billion payment through ConnectIPS gateway in a month.

ConnectIPS witnessed a growth in terms of transaction and amount paid.

From mid-January to mid-February Rs. 236.42 billion was transacted via ConnectIPS which increased to Rs. 273.85 billion in mid-February to mid-March, states the latest report published by the Nepal Rastra Bank’s Payment Systems Department. Its users increased to 3.14 million to 3.33 million in a month’s period. By mid-March there were about 817,197 ConnectIPS users.

However, the amount transacted through the ConnectIPS in mid-February was decreased compared to mid-September to mid-October in 2021 when Rs. 239.14 billion was paid via its app.

Likewise, there was the growth of 364,000 users of wallet and Rs. 2 billion in payment through it in a month. About 11.01 million wallet users had paid Rs. 14.53 billion in mid-January to mid-February while about 11.35 million users made the payment of Rs. 16.6 billion.

Number of QR-based payments has crossed 23 million, however, payment through it is small – just Rs. 7.7 billion. There is a slow growth in QR-payments as Rs. 6.09 billion was paid through it five months ago.

Similarly, transaction amount through the use of debit and credit cards, prepaid cards, internet and mobile banking and point of sales also witnessed a significant increase. For example, Rs. 107.1 billion was paid via mobile banking by mid-March against Rs. 92.7 billion by mid-February, states the NRB.

There are 16.8 million mobile banking and 1.6 million internet banking customers, 11,488 payment service providers (PSPs), while 10.2 million debit cards and 219,946 credit cards are issued.

After the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the central bank had launched a nation-wide campaign to promote QR-based payments in business from groceries to service industry.

Meanwhile, the NRB has started studying the possibility of using the digital currency to replace the currency. It is analysing the opportunities and challenges of using services related to cloud technology. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 18 April 2022. 

Tourism Board honours BBC Master Chef's team

Kathmandu, Apr. 17

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) on Sunday honoured the finalists of BBC Master Chef: The Professional 2020.

In a program organised in Kathmandu, the team of chefs including Alex Wave, Alex Wave, Bart van der Lee and Philli Armitage along with Master Chef Santosh Shah was received by the Chief Executive Officer of the Board, Dr. Dhananjay Regmi as well as board members and directors.

Dr. Regmi said that Shah has added a new dimension to Nepal's tourism by introducing Nepali cuisine to the world.

"Nepal is considered as a beautiful destination by tourists but after Master Chef Santosh Shah introduced Nepali food to the world, it conveyed the message that Nepal is also an important destination in terms of culinary tourism,” he said.

Shah said that he was proud to bring Nepali food to the world stage. He also urged the team that came with him to come back to Nepal and experience Nepal up close again. Similarly, Wave, Lee and Armitage said that they were happy to visit Nepal and learn about the art and culture here.

Nepal's tourism sector was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic but is slowly returning to normalcy.

A team of Chefs including Shah has been in Nepal since April 7 during the 'Master Chef Finalist Tour to Nepal' tour programme organised by the Nepal Chapter of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) under the promotion of post-epidemic tourism revival campaign promoted by NTB. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 18 April 2022.