Tara adds Viking to its fleet

Kathmandu, July 22: Tara Air has added a new Viking DHC6-400 Twin Otter aircraft to its fleet.

The Viking 400 landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport Friday after its ferry flight from Seychelles arrived to Nepal via the Maldives and India.

Prabhakar Ghimire and Pawan Sing Nagarkoti, and Technical Assistant Jagat Lama were on board, along with Bidhan Shrestha, Airworthiness Inspector of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

The Viking 400s are the latest series of Twin Otters that can operate out of the most challenging airports in the world such as Lukla, Dolpo or Rara with ease, said the Tara Air.

The Tara Air has received the delivery of the aircraft with MSN 846 from Air Seychelles. After detailed inspections and a test flight, it received the CAAN certificate of airworthiness and Nepali Registration number, or call sign, 9N-Alo.

“This latest addition to our fleet of STOL aircraft will enable us to provide service in the remote airports of the mountainous regions, where road travel is either very arduous or impossible. It will also facilitate Nepal’s target of 2 million tourists in the year 2020,” said the company.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 July 2018. 

BIMSTEC Summit in August 30-31

Kathmandu, July 19: The fourth BIMSTEC Summit 2018 will be held on 30 and 31 August this year with poverty alleviation as the top agenda, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

Although the government last month had announced to organise the summit of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) by the end of August this year, the member countries were to confirm the date.

“We have got the formal confirmation for the date and participation from all the members. Some of the countries have already sent the names of the delegations as well,” said Ram Babu Dhakal, Coordinator of the BIMSTEC Secretariat at the MoFA.

The sub-regional forum, established in 1997 through Bangkok Declaration, has seven members – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Likewise, 19^th BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and 16^th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting will be held on 28 and 29 of August, on the eve of the summit.

Poverty alleviation will be a top agenda in the fourth BIMSTEC Summit along with connectivity.

Although transport and energy connectivity, people-to-people contact, counter-terrorism and cross-border crime, and trade will be important sectors of deliberations, poverty alleviation would be the primary agenda for the upcoming summit of the BIMSTEC, said Dhakal.

Nepal is the current chair of the regional initiative and also leads the poverty alleviation sub-sector. The third Summit of the BIMSTEC in Ney Pi Tah, Myanmar in 2014 had passed the chairmanship of the regional body to Nepal.

According to the MoFA, the member countries will also sign on various instruments of regional cooperation, however the modality of such instrument is yet to be decided.

Such instruments or agreements are likely to be signed as the Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) or agreements.

“Focus of such instruments will be regional cooperation and collaboration on various sectors , socio-economic development of member countries, deepening transportation and communication connectivity, trade and investment, and people to people contact,” Dhakal said.

Other priority areas of BIMSTEC cooperation are technology, tourism, fisheries, agriculture, cultural cooperation, environment and disaster management, public health and climate change.

Dhakal said that it was a historic opportunity for Nepal, and the government had attached high importance to the BIMSTEC.

Although the government had planned to hold the summit of BIMSTEC in 2017 and included it in its policies and programmes for the Fiscal Year 2016/17, it couldn’t be organised due to elections and political transition.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 July 2018. 

First result of economic census in August

Kathmandu, July 20: The preliminary report of the first-ever Economic Census conducted from mid-May to mid-July in the country will be published by the end of August, according to the Central Bureau of Statics (CBS).

The statistical body under the National Planning Commission (NPC) has concluded the data collection of the Economic Census 2018, which is being executed to collect, process and analyse the details of all business units – both government and private sector, and of all scales – with the aim of creating benchmark data for seamless economic statistics.

"All the forms have been collected at 33 statistical offices across the country. Coding and data entry will begin within a couple of weeks. I think we will be able to deliver the preliminary result by the end of August," said Anil Sharma, Director of the Economic Census Division at the CBS.

The first set of results will include vital information about the economic establishments with about five to six tables, he said.

According to him, all the data entry works will be completed by November, and verification of data will be done in December. The final National Statistical Report will be published in February 2019.

The statistical body is enabling all its 33 branches with sufficient resources required to conduct the data entry. The data entry will be done at the branch offices for the first time in CBS history.

"Most of the branch offices, especially in the hills, have the required infrastructure, however districts, such as Parsa, Banke, Rupandehi, Morang and Chitwan, with a large number of industrial and business establishments need additional resources. It will be managed soon," said Sharma.

The census has collected data of about a million establishments although an earlier estimate by the CBS mentioned that the country might have more than 1.3 million enterprises – 800,000 with the Personal Account Number (PAN) and about 500,000 micro, cottage and small business enterprises not registered with the government.

The CBS had established field offices in all 77 districts for the census.

The Economic Census will create basic statistics of the local units as well, which may help the investors to establish and expand their business or industry to new areas across the country. 

“It will provide reliable data for planning and policy formulation to the government, universities and private sector bodies. Businessmen can establish and expand their businesses on the basis of the statistics,” said Sharma. 

The census has collected information of business institutions relating to mines and excavation, industrial production, electricity, water supply, waste management, construction, wholesale and retail trade, vehicles, transportation and warehouse, foods, information and communication, finance and insurance, education, health, social works, art, entertainment, real estate, administrative and technical services. 

Information, such as addresses of the business enterprises, major activities, employment, capital investment and access to credit, will be included.  

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing technical support to the CBS for the census. It includes information technology (IT) system and knowledge support. 

The Rs. 420 million programme had used the questionnaire, tablet and e-census method to collect the data in the field. 

The census is to be conducted every five years.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 21 July 2018. 

MEDEP to be enforced as MEDPA from August

Kathmandu, July 18: One of the most successful entrepreneurship development initiatives of the government, the Micro-Enterprise Development Programme (MEDEP), is being implemented as the Micro-Enterprise Development for Poverty Alleviation (MEDPA) from coming August.

The programme running for two decades is executed in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Australian Government with the aim of poverty alleviation through enterprise development and job creation in the villages.

MEDEP has created more than 131,000 entrepreneurs of which 74 per cent are women, more than 26 per cent Dalits, 38 per cent ethnic people and about 70 per cent youth.

The programme has supported 36,000 micro-enterprises to graduate to small enterprises and created more than 172,000 employments.

It has also created 741 community facility centres (CFCs) and supported 15,000 ultra-poor people.

The flagship programme of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) was implemented in 11 districts for the first time in 1998-2003, and is expanded to 38 districts in its phase 4 programme 2013-2018.

With the MEDEP converting to the MEDPA, the programme will be expanded to all 77 districts across the country. The MEDEP that created some internationally acclaimed micro-entrepreneurs like Kesha Pariyar will exit on 31 July.

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supply Matrika Yadav appreciated the programme for its contribution in enterprise development, job creation, livelihood support and resource mobilisation at the local level.

“All provinces and local governments should be active in executing this programme. The federal government will coordinate and facilitate them whenever and wherever necessary,” he said while speaking at a national seminar on ‘Micro-enterprise for economic prosperity’ organised by the MoICS on Wednesday here.

Secretary at the ministry Yam Kumari Khatiwada said that Nepal was able to create a successful mode of micro-enterprise development, therefore, it has internalise the MEDEP and is executing MEDPA in all 77 districts.

The government has allocated Rs. 1.9 billion for micro-enterprise development for the current fiscal year 2018/19.

Australian Ambassador to Nepal Peter Budd expressed happiness on government’s internalisation of MEDEP and said that the programme will make an important contribution to poverty alleviation in the country.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 July 2018. 

FM directs CAs to maintain more transparency

Kathmandu, July 17:

Finance Minister Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada has directed the chartered accountants (CAs) to maintain more transparency while preparing the audit reports of the public and private companies, and avoid preparing reports that support tax evasion.

“The government has been promoting the concept of a transparent tax administration and good governance, which should be reflected in the audit reports,” he said while speaking at the National Best Presented Annual Report (2016/17) award distribution ceremony, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal (ICAN), on Tuesday.

He also asked the CAs to adhere to the international norms and practices of auditing and reporting.

We want transparency in every financial activity. So prepare financial reports in a way that will support the government goal, he said.

According to him, the government was for punishing the auditors who use their skills to conceal misappropriation and evade taxes. The government has tabled the Auditing Bill in the parliament, which includes best international practices and international financial reporting standards (IFRS).

He said that the accounting system in Nepal was also in transition as it was moving towards the IFRS from the traditional auditing methods.

Dr. Khatiwada appreciated the strategic plan developed by ICAN and directed the auditors and CAs to adhere to the professional code of conduct.

He also directed the ICAN to use its regulatory power and punish those who commit misconduct while preparing financial reports.

Auditor General Tanka Mani Sharma also asked the CAs to maintain utmost transparency in preparing accounting reports.

On the occasion, ICAN awarded seven companies for best presented annual report.

In the manufacturing category, Bottlers Nepal Limited won the best presented annual report award, and Butwal Power Company was the runner up.

Similarly, Credit Information Bureau and Oriental Hotels Limited won the best report award for others and service category respectively.

Likewise, in the banking category, Citizen Bank International won the best presented award, and Standard Chartered Bank Limited and Nepal SBI Bank Limited were the first and second runners-up.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 18 July 2018. 

German envoy suggests to promote SMEs for job creation

Kathmandu, July 17: German Ambassador to Nepal Roland Schafer on Tuesday suggested Nepal develop a strategic plan to develop small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in order to create more jobs and lead the economy on the path of progress.

“The German economy is contributed by the large network of SMEs. If you could connect your SMEs with the national and international value chain, it would be more rewarding,” he said at a programme organised by the Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC).

Though you have to learn from your own experiment and experiences to progress in business and attract investment, Germany is ready to share its development experience with Nepal, said Schafer.

According to him, there are chances of economic development in Nepal in the new federal structure.

He said that the German Embassy in Kathmandu was ready to collaborate with the NCC in business sector development.

“Germany can provide human resource development and capacity enhancement training and support to Nepal. We are ready to have discussion and decide on the important areas of collaboration. Nepal also can benefit from German clean technology,” he said.

He also said that his country was ready to support the Nepal government in its ‘Prosperous Nepal, happy Nepali’ campaign.

President of the NCC Rajesh Kazi Shrestha urged the envoy to help Nepal in attracting German investment and said that it was high time to invest here as there was a stable government.

Businessmen present at the programme also said that they wanted to be connected with the German Chamber of Commerce in order to promote Nepali goods there.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 18 July 2018. 

Half of the quake-hit families receive second tranche of grant

Kathmandu, July 12: Only about half of the 807,486 quake-affected families have received the second installation of the house reconstruction grant.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) had asked all the quake-affected families to collect the second tranche of the house reconstruction grant by the end of the current Fiscal Year 2017/18.

And only four days are left before this fiscal year ends.

As per the government policy, the quake beneficiaries should claim the grant money within the stipulated time, otherwise they might be deprived of the facility while it is impossible to distribute the money to about 350,000 families in the remaining four days.

Approximately 478,478 households have applied for the second installation of the grant and 449,338 have received the money.

The reconstruction body has already extended the deadline to receive the second installation of Rs. 150,000 by three months from mid-April this year to July 16, and there are fewer chances to extend the deadline for the second time, according to NRA sources.

However, deputy spokesperson of the NRA Manohar Ghimire said that the beneficiaries with genuine excuses would be considered for the remaining second and third installations of the grant.

But the reconstruction body does not have its chief executive to make decisions to such effect. The government through a Cabinet decision had nullified all the government appointments made from August 30, 2017 to February 15, 2018, which also sent the NRA’s CEO home.

“We need to make a policy decision to have a say on the situation. But currently, we don’t have the NRA chief to make such a decision,” said Ghimire.

He said that the actual number of genuine beneficiaries could increase by 150,000.

“There are very few families that do not have a shelter. Many who have not come to claim the second tranche have their shelter in other places, therefore, we have estimated that about 100,000 to 150,000 families are lagging behind in the reconstruction drive,” he said.

He gave assurances that the genuine victims would be facilitated in receiving the grant money through alternative ways.

Meanwhile, the NRA said that more than 200,000 quake-affected families have received the entire purse of the grant.

“About 208,043 households have received the third tranche of the housing grant.

Approximately 234,942 families have been approved for the final installment of the grant,” said a statement issued by the reconstruction body.

Dolakha and Sindhupalchowk have the largest number of third installment recipients at 330,582 families and 300,444 families respectively. 

Reconstruction statistics:

Topic	Number
Surveyed household	996,582
Beneficiaries	807,486
Grant agreement	721,296
First instalment recipient	712,994
Second instalment recipient	449,338
Second instalment applicant	478,478
Third instalment recipient	208,043
House construction completed	239,073
Houses under construction	509,411

Source: NRA

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 13 july 2018.