Minister Rijal commits to operate Birgunj Sugar Factory

Kathmandu, Apr. 19

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, has pledged to bring Birgunj Sugar Factory into operation.

Speaking at the welcome programme organised by the Nepali Congress District Working Committee Parsa on Tuesday, Minister Rijal said that he is ready to run the sugar factory which has remained shut for many years.

He made it clear that the ministry will proceed with the work by holding discussion with the experts in order to find ways to bring the sugar mill back into operation, according to the secretariat of the minister.

People attending the event requested the minister to take initiatives for the operation of the factory which has remained closed for two decades. "Since I have become the minister with the blessings and support of the people of Parsa district, I will put my efforts to serve the people here," said Minister Rijal.

With the closure of the sugar factory that was linked with the prosperity of the farmers in three districts – Bara, Parsa and Rautahat – the sad days of the farmers began, the locals said.

The Birgunj Sugar Factory, which was established in Birgunj with the financial support from the Russian government and had been in operation since 1964, was closed by the government in 2002, citing cumulative loss. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 April 2023.

Exports cover only 45 per cent of fuel imports

Goods export continues to slump

 

Kathmandu, Apr. 19

Nepal's goods export continues to slump this year despite a significant contraction in the overall trade deficit.

By the end of the third quarter of the current Fiscal Year 2022/23, Nepal’s export to total trade has come down to 8.96 per cent from 9.87 per cent of the same period last year. According to the statistics released by the Department of Customs on Wednesday, Nepal exported goods worth Rs. 118.27 billion in the first nine months of this year which is down by 26.34 per cent of the FY 2021/22 when the country exported the merchandise worth Rs. 160.57 billion.

Meanwhile, the country imported petroleum fuel including diesel, petrol and liquified petroleum gas worth Rs. 261.09 billion. This is about 55 per cent higher than the total exports of the country in the same period.

This is a massive export loss compared with the growth Nepal witnessed last year. By the end of the third quarter of 2021/22 (mid-April), Nepal exported goods worth Rs. 160.57 billion, which was up by about 70 per cent compared to FY 2020/21, when the country could sell goods of only Rs. 94.76 billion to other countries.

That year, the growth in export was more than 20 per cent as the total size climbed to Rs. 95.76 billion by the end of nine months of the fiscal year from Rs. 78.81 billion in 2019/20.

 

Imports down by 18 pc

Meanwhile, in the nine months of the current FY 2022/23, Nepal has imported goods worth Rs. 1201.5 billion which is about 18.08 per cent lower than last year's import of Rs. 1466.66 billion during the same period. The imports had gone up by about 32 per cent last year, from Rs. 1111.39 billion of 2020/21.

Ban on the imports of the luxury goods like vehicles and liquor and provision for the need to maintain cash margin for the Letter of Credit to import several other items had discouraged the imports significantly.

Likewise, the shortage of liquidity in the country's financial system even before the beginning of this fiscal year and skyrocketing price of imported goods in the domestic market due to the Russia's invasion on Ukraine and disturbance created by the COVID-19 pandemic in the global supply chain scared the consumers away from the market. As a result, overall imports went down, experts said.

 

Oils: Rs. 71 bn import, Rs. 26 bn export

According to the DoC's statistics, Nepal's major exports are animal or vegetable fats and oils, coffee and tea, carpets and textiles, fibres, iron and steel and apparel. The country exported fats and oils of Rs. 26 billion in the past nine months. Likewise, it exported tea and coffee worth Rs. 10 billion, carpets and textiles Rs. 9 billion, fibres Rs. 8.8 billion, and iron and steel goods of Rs. 7.3 billion.

But astonishingly, the country has imported the fats and oils – including palm and soybean oils – worth Rs. 71.3 billion in the same period. This means the overall national earning from the export of this item is not significant.

Iron and steel goods are the new entrants to this year's top export list.

Likewise, major imports are petroleum fuel, iron and steel, mechanical appliances, animal or vegetable fats, plastic items and cereals. Nepal imported iron and steel worth Rs. 100.7 billion, mechanical appliances of Rs. 75 billion, electrical machinery of Rs. 73 billion and plastic items Rs. 45.6 billion.

 

Top trading partners

Nepal's top trading partners for exports are India, the United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Canada, France, Australia, Japan and Italy. The country exported goods worth Rs. 82 billion to India in the past nine months. Similarly, it exported goods worth Rs. 13 billion to the USA, Rs. 3 billion to Germany and R. 2.5 billion to the UK.

Although China is the second largest source of imports with Rs. 162.4 billion, it is not in the top 10 export markets of Nepal. The latter could export the goods of only Rs. 636 million to the former.  

Nepal imported goods of Rs. 753.7 billion from India. Other major source countries are the Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Malaysia, Australia, Ukraine and the USA.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 April 2023. 

Govt annuls decision made by former DPM Lamichhane on NIC

Kathmandu, Apr. 18

The government has revoked the decision made by former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane regarding the National Identity Card (NIC). The meeting of the Cabinet held on Tuesday decided to scrap the decision made by the former DPM to give personal data and state security to a private company.

He had made amendments to the procedures made for interdependence and verification of the details of citizens in a secure manner through the management information system related to the NIC.

Speaking to the media after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Government Spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, said that the procedures approved by the then Home Minister Lamichhane to award a contract to a private company for the management of NIC has been cancelled.

The government has also decided to form a committee to investigate how the procedure was made and passed.

She also said that the government has decided to form a separate committee to study the procedure and that the government has opened the plotting of the land which has been restricted for some years.

According to her, the government has decided to approve the first amendment of the Land Use Regulation-2023. With this, land plotting and sale has been opened. Minister Sharma said that in absence of the land use regulations, real estate transactions have been stopped, and distribution of land in inheritance has also been affected so the Council of Ministers has decided to approve the amendments in the Land Use Regulations-2023.

Minister Sharma informed that it has been decided to form a committee under the coordination of Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Purna Bahadur Khadka, to solve the problem related to land acquisition in Khokana on the Kathmandu Terai Fast Track.  The committee has three months to solve the problem. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 April 2023. 

Minister Rijal commits to operate Birgunj Sugar Factory

Kathmandu, Apr. 18

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, has pledged to bring Birgunj Sugar Factory into operation.

Speaking at the welcome programme organised by the Nepali Congress District Working Committee Parsa on Tuesday, Minister Rijal said that he is ready to run the sugar factory which has remained shut for many years.

He made it clear that the ministry will proceed with the work by holding discussion with the experts in order to find ways to bring the sugar mill back into operation, according to the secretariat of the minister.

People attending the event requested the minister to take initiatives for the operation of the factory which has remained closed for two decades. "Since I have become the minister with the blessings and support of the people of Parsa district, I will put my efforts to serve the people here," said Minister Rijal.

With the closure of the sugar factory that was linked with the prosperity of the farmers in three districts – Bara, Parsa and Rautahat – the sad days of the farmers began, the locals said.

The Birgunj Sugar Factory, which was established in Birgunj with the financial support from the Russian government and had been in operation since 1964, was closed by the government in 2002, citing cumulative loss.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 April 2023. 

Outer Ring Road project fades out of government development radar

Kathmandu, Apr. 15

The cost for land acquisition for the Outer Ring Road Project in the Kathmandu Valley has increased by six times in 22 years since its announcement in 2001.

Initial cost of land management for the project was Rs. 56 billion in 2005 which has crossed Rs. 300 billion, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) said in its annual report for the Fiscal Year 2021/22 published on Thursday.

The project covering all three districts of the valley still is in doldrums although the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and Kathmandu Valley Development Authority (KVDA) tried to shake it for a couple of times. The cost of per aana land was Rs. 500,000 in 2005 which is now more than Rs. 5 million in some locations.

The 72-km road project was planned to develop organised cities in the three districts of the valley and facilitate the city lifestyle. But the shortsightedness on part of the government agencies and policies couldn't assess the expansion of the human settlement in the corners of the valley adding complexities in the project development.

Meanwhile, land brokers hiked the price of land citing the development of the Outer Ring Road project and easier connectivity to those areas. Since the government and the local bodies, including municipalities and village development committees then left the entire process and business in the hands of the brokers and agents, the entire Kathmandu Valley turned into an unmanaged settlement with narrow roads many of which are not fit for even ambulance and fire-engines.

But there have not been any activities in terms of project development except feasibility study although administrative costs are being incurred every year. Rs. 142.2 million is spent in the project by the end of the FY 2021/22, informed the OAG.

The cost of project was estimated at Rs. 72 billion in 2008.

Meanwhile, the government has announced another project to develop smart cities including the areas along the proposed Outer Ring Road – 100,000 ropanis of land in north-east and 10,000 ropanis in the north of Kathmandu, 10,000 ropanis each in Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts.

Earlier, in 2019, the Development and Technology Committee of the Federal Parliament had directed the government to continue the project while also noting that the land acquisition had become a highly complex feat as the land-mafias sliced the land to as small as three ana pieces.

By that year, about 14,000 landowners emerged along the project area holding about 8,000 ropanis of land in Satungal-Chobhar section alone.

According to the project office, 80,000 to 100,000 ropanis of land should be pooled for the project. The House panel had directed the MoUD to move the project ahead and asked the Ministry of Finance to ensure the resources needed for it.

In April 2018, the Cabinet had endorsed the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the 6.6 km Satungal-Chobhar section of the Outer Ring Road which further raised the hopes for the project but ultimately it helped the land mafias.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 16 April 2023. 

Lack of accounts update hampering clearance of arrears: AG Office

Kathmandu, Apr. 14

The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has found that the concerned government authorities have not well-kept and updated the record of the arrears incurred in their accounts, impacting the clearance of arrears and audit works.

In its annual report, 60^th for the Fiscal Year 2021/22, the OAG concluded that the implementation of the provisions of the Fiscal Procedures and Financial Accountability Act-2020 in public institutions was poor as they failed to update the records of their arrears and present the up-to-date details of the cleared accounts.

As a result, the size of arrears has been inflated over the years, which means poor record keeping as well as the misappropriation of the public funds. In the past 18 years (from FY 2003/04 to 2021/22), the arrears has reached Rs. 587.33 billion, of which Rs. 296.13 belongs to the offices of the federal government, Rs. 24.3 billion to provincial offices, Rs. 172.6 billion to local bodies and Rs. 94.2 billion to other organisations and committees.

In the last fiscal year, only Rs. 15 billion arrears of the total Rs. 483.59 billion were cleared, which is just 3.10 per cent. According to the OAG, it has conducted audit for Rs. 7138.17 billion of 4,068 offices of the federal government, 1,218 offices of provincial government, 751 local governments and 75 public organisations.

"From the audit of Rs. 2356.33 billion of federal agencies and offices, Rs. 56.31 billion has remained as arrears which is 2.39 per cent). Provincial audit of Rs. 312.73 billion showed arrears of Rs. 7.20 billion (2.30 per cent)," Auditor General Tanka Mani Sharma said in his message.

Likewise, the OAG found Rs. 42.88 billion (4.18 per cent) in arrears from the audit of Rs. 1104.1 billion from the accounts of the local bodies. It pointed out that since the municipal assembly has the sole authority to formulate policy and laws, announce budget, implement budget and clear the arrears, there is the conflict of interest. The OAG suggested that the laws related to the auditing and operation of the local governments should be amended to create an independent body to discuss and monitor the accounts and reports of the local bodies.

The OAG had held multiple discussions with the chief secretary of the government and account officers and issued directives to make reforms in clearing arrears but the progress has not been encouraging.

It has suggested to implement the same provisions in the federal and provincial elections as practiced in the local polls which bar the individual that has not cleared arrears in his/her name and advance due to clear from contesting the election. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 15 April 2023.

Filli Café to open 20 outlets in five years

Kathmandu, Apr. 14

Filli Cafe has announced that it will open 20 new outlets in Nepal over the next five years in collaboration with ND Thirty Nine Business Group Pvt. Ltd.

The first outlet was opened on Friday in Lazimpat, Kathmandu.

 Super star of Nepali filmdom Rajesh Hamal, along with other dignitaries, inaugurated the service of the café.

Filli Cafe has a strong presence in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, the USA, the UK, India and Mauritius.

According to Nabin Khadka and Dhruba Rijal, operator of ND Thirty Nine, the cafes in Kathmandu offer a unique blend of local tastes and international delicacies, and Filli Cafe is excited to add its own special touch to this mix. The tea at Filli Cafe is organically produced and freshly brewed in a traditional way.

"Our cafes are designed to be lively spaces where people can come together to socialise and relax in the middle of their busy days," Rafih Filli, the founder of Filli Café, said.

Kathmandu does not have any international chains like Starbucks or Costa Coffee, making Filli Cafe an exciting addition to the city's culinary scene. The growing culture of fast casual cafes serving drinks and light snacks has become a favourite among tourists and locals alike.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 15 April 2023.