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The government has floated a plan to end load-shedding by 2015 through in-house generation from mega hydro-projects like the 456 MW Upper Tamakoshi.
It has proposed to generate 230 MW of electricity through 15 hydro-power projects by 2012. Speaking at a press meet organized at the Ministry of Energy (MoE) Wednesday, Energy Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said, “With an effective five-year plan, we have targeted a 230 MW generation from the projects.”
Mahat also claimed that the 400 kv Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line corridor with 1,200 MW carrying capacity would also be completed by 2012…
…Upper Karnali work ´will resume´…
…20-25% tariff hike likely…
Read full story at: myrepublica.com
Israeli ambassador to Nepal Dan Stav has said Israeli businessmen are interested to tap Nepal´s growing telecommunication sector.
Saying that telecommunication sector is the most importation sector of cooperation between two countries, Stav said the Israeli investors are especially eying the cellular mobile sector the coverage of which is still at low level.
“Israeli companies are taking Nepal as one of the profitable markets where coverage of cellular phone is still at low level but has huge potential of expansion,” said Stav. “They are already involved in some telecom projects in Nepal such as building telecom towers.”
The Israeli envoy also stated that Nepal´s topography is more suitable for expansion and upgrading of telecommunication system.
“However, it will be difficult to invest huge money in other infrastructure sectors because of Nepal´s topography,” Stav said. He also hinted about the possible involvement of Israeli businesspeople in supplying materials for hydropower projects. “Israeli companies have specialization in producing different equipment such as valve used in hydropower projects. Though Israeli investors do not have the experience of building hydropower projects, they can contribute by supplying equipment like they are doing in China,” he added.
Read full story at: myrepublica.com
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal laid the foundation stone of the Korea-Nepal Institute of Technology (KNIT) in Tamnagar, Butwal on Friday.
Issuing a press statement Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) said that the KNIT will be established with the financial support of USD 5 million from the South Korean government. It aims at enhancing and upgrading the quality of technical education and vocational training in Nepal.
Minister for Education Ram Chandra Kishawaha, Minister for Irrigation Bal Krishna Khand, Minister for Forests and Soil Conservation Dipak Bohara, CTEVT member secretary, senior Nepali officials, Korean ambassador Hong Sungmog, and resident representative of KOICA Doh Young-Ah were present in the ceremony.
It further stated that KOICA would support the construction of the institute, provide equipment and educational materials and support capacity building through invitational training in Korea and dispatch of experts for institute management, as well as training for teachers. The institute will be established as one of the core centres of advanced vocational training in Nepal and will provide diploma courses and short-term training in three major areas – mechanic, automobile and electronics – based on the needs of the industry, the statement added.
Source: thehimalayantimes.com
An auto exhibition and trade festival will be organized in Nepal from February 18, local media reported Wednesday.
According to the state-run newspaper The Rising Nepal, the exhibition will be organized with the slogan “self-employment, self reliance is our foundation, expansion of the trade from village to town”. Applications to set up about 100 stalls of auto, food items, readymade clothes, technology, agricultural, handicraft and foot- wears have already been registered, The Rising Nepal reported, citing the organizers.
Source: english.people.com.cn
KATHMANDU, Jan 26: India has offered to supply four million Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) to Nepal at four US dollars per piece. The MRPs will be manufactured by India´s state-owned Indian Security Printers (ISP).
Although a formal agreement is yet to be signed, the proposal was “discussed” during the meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala during Krishna´s Nepal visit earlier this month, a Foreign Ministry official told myrepublica.com.
It is learnt that the Indian proposal has been on the table for the last 10 months and negotiations with India were going on when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) started the bidding process for procuring the MRPs. As per ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) requirements, Nepal has to go for MRPs by 2010. Earlier, the Indian side had offered to supply the passport booklets at Indian rupees 400 per piece.
The Public Procurement Act 2063 allows such a bilateral mechanism. However, if the government decides to procure the passports from India as per the Act, a committee formed under the chief secretary would have to recommend the purchase, and it would then have to be endorsed by the cabinet. The cabinet thereafter would delegate authority to MoFA to go through with the process.
The ISP is under the Indian government´s Ministry of Finance and Revenue and the manufacturing plant is in Nasik in Maharashtra state. India has been using MRPs for the last seven-eight years and is now set to go for e-passports.
MoFA on January 15 scrapped the $72 million project citing “technical reasons.” The Ministry took the decision to this effect a day before the final date for submission of bids by four firms — Oberthur Technologies (France), Gemalto (Finland), Sagem Security Printers (France) and 3M Technology (Singapore) – that were short-listed for the project.
The cancellation also meant that Nepal would miss the April 1 deadline set by ICAO.
Chief of Protocol at MoFA, Mohan K Shrestha, declined to comment when contacted. Shrestha only said that no formal instruction has been given in this regard.
Source: myrepublica.com
Despite being at high risk from earthquakes, Nepal’s lack of preparedness makes a mockery of Earthquake Safety Day
Last Tuesday’s 7.3 Richter earthquake devastated the island nation of Haiti, and alarm bells rang on the other side of the world as it emerged that thousands were dead or missing. There are approximately 1300 Nepali peacekeepers stationed in the country.
They may have been declared safe, but Nepal has plenty of reason to worry on its own account as it prepares for Earthquake Safety Day on January 16. Nepal ranks 11th on the list of nations at risk from earthquakes. Experts note that major earthquakes occur here every 80 to 100 years. The last catastrophe to fit this bill occurred in 1934, when 80,000 houses were destroyed and 8,518 people died in an 8.3 Richter quake, half in the Kathmandu Valley. But preventative measures are proceeding at a snail’s pace.
Following the earthquake of 1988, during which 721 people lost their lives, the state did begin to look into such measures. The 2005 Nepal National Building Code was to be enacted in 58 municipalities and 121 peri-urban VDCs in two years. Between 1994 and 2009, 7530 engineers, overseers and masons were trained in earthquake-resistant construction. Similarly, the National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) has provided training to 206 members of the security forces and the Red Cross on earthquake impact minimisation.
But implementation is virtually absent.
Read full story at: nepalitimes.com
by Binju Sitaula
KATHMANDU, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Compelled by young and curious nature, hundreds of Nepali youths are flocking to visit 16th CAN Info-Tech 2010 exhibition held in Nepali capital Kathmandu.
Since youths aspire to get familiar with latest technology and try to inhabit themselves in it, these freshers have become the center of the mega event-information, communication and technology exhibition.
A gala exhibition organized by Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) has been dominated by youths seeking fresh ideas since the event was inaugurated by Nepali Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Wednesday.
“80 percent of the visitors are youths,” CAN secretary-general Binod Dhakal told Xinhua on Friday. According to him, more than 35,000 visitors visited the exhibition on Thursday and he is expecting about 100,000 visitors to turn up on Saturday, a public holiday.
Amid a various IT products being exhibited, the freshers were fascinated by latest laptops, iPod, mobile phones among others.
By displaying the latest technology, CAN Info-Tech is providing these youths with information on how to make their daily life convenient with the help of one small device.
The six-day exhibition attracts the highest number of visitors in Nepal, organizers claimed.
More than 400,000 visitors are expected to visit the exhibition, according to Dhakal.
Source: news.xinhuanet.com
by PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE
KATHMANDU, Jan 3: The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) has confirmed that Nepal tea is free from pesticide residue and is within exportable quality level.
In the wake of complaints from some western countries about the content of pesticide level in Nepali tea, the latest report of the DFTQC has paved way for the export of Nepali tea in major markets in Europe and America.
“We found all samples of tea collected from Nepali tea gardens bellow 0.01 Part Per Million (PPM) or Below Detection Level (BDL) which is internationally acceptable.
It has cleared the deck for the export of Nepali tea to western countries without any obstacle,” Pramod Koirala, under-secretary at the DOTQC told myrepublica.com on Sunday.
Koirala said a total of 18 samples from six VDCs of Jhapa,Ilam and Panchthar districts — key tea producing districts — were collected for the pesticide residue test.
“Quality of Nepali tea has been found to meet the standard set by importing countries,” added Koirala.
The DFTQC had sent the samples to VIMTA lab of Hyderabad in India — an internationally accredited lab — for the test.
Due to the lack of sophisticated lab recognized by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO), food items requiring vigorous testing have to be sent to India from Nepal.
Read full story at: myrepublica.com
KATHMANDU, Dec. 29 — The government is set to conduct a survey of the information and communication technology-based (ICT) industry in the country to see how it is doing. The High Level Commission for Information Technology is preparing the terms of reference and plans to entrust the job to any eligible consultant by January 2010.
Vice president of the commission Manohar Kumar Bhattarai said that it had become very essential to study Nepal’s ICT industry as there was no data to find out its real situation and its contribution to the economy.
He said that the survey would portray the condition of the booming ICT industry and problems being faced by them in the changing scenario. “It will help reveal the number of entrepreneurs involved, the amount of employment provided, the services or products being exported and the industry’s contribution to the GDP.
The survey will collect data from all the registered companies and also from unregistered enterprises employing more than 30 people. However, the study will not be able to incorporate the data of the entrepreneurs working individually from their homes or offices without legal registration.
“It will be hard for us to collect data about people who are outsourcing individually, but we will try to cover all the national and international companies based in the country,” said Bhattarai. The number of individuals involved in outsourcing has been increasing rapidly in recent times because of cheaper labour in Nepal compared to India.
According to a recent data of the ICT industry in India, the sector provides employment to 2.2 million people with the annual turnover reaching US$ 48 billion. India has registered an annual growth rate of 27 percent in the ICT sector.
“We can learn from India that the ICT industry too can contribute much to the national economy as the sector is at a nascent stage following the revolution in the information technology sector,” said Bhattarai. He said that the outcome of the survey would be made public by the end of March 2010.
Source: istockanalyst.com
Nepal Airlines’ purchase of two Airbus aircraft has been put on hold while it awaits the decision of a parliamentary committee which has questioned the deal.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had asked the finance ministry to stop the airline’s purchase of one Airbus A330-200 and one A320, which were ordered at the Dubai air show in November.
The $250 million deal included options for four additional aircraft: two A320s, one A330, and the fourth undecided but likely to be an A330.
But the PAC stalled the purchase because the state-owned airline made an advance payment of $750,000 to Airbus without Government approval, says an airline spokesman.
“We paid the money because the budget stated that the Government will guarantee two new aircraft for the airline,” he adds.
The carrier expects the PAC to decide within a month as to whether the airline can go ahead with the purchase, he says.
“We have finalised the deal, but the ball is not in our court at the moment,” adds the spokesman.
Source: flightglobal.com
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