Aug 13, 2010

Govt mulls blocking porn sites

KATHMANDU, AUG 13 - Internet surfers will soon have to scale the telecom firewall to access porn sites in Nepal. Nepal Telecommunications Authority at the behest of the Home Ministry is preparing to block pornographic materials on websites.

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) is working on the same through internet service providers (ISP) and telecom operators providing GPRS facility. NTA has been working in this regard in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Science and Technology and Cyber Cell of the Nepal Police. It has said that it will implement this new provision after one week.

Aug 10, 2010

Sale of vehicles almost double


KATHMANDU, AUG 10 - Breaking all past records, the sale of vehicles increased by a whopping 96.73 percent during the last fiscal year 2009-10. The rise was aided by heavy sale of motorcycles across the country.

According to the Department of Transport Management, a total of 201,787 units of vehicles including 168,707 motorcycles were registered during the last fiscal in 13 zonal transport offices, while the registration in the previous fiscal year was 102,570.

In the fiscal year 2008-09, 83,334 units of motorcycles were traded across the country.

Jul 23, 2010

Motorbike sales zoom 42 percent

KATHMANDU, JUL 22 - Sales of two-wheelers in the Kathmandu Valley increased by a whopping 42 percent during the last fiscal year compared to the previous fiscal. The surge has been attributed to aggressive promotional schemes launched by distributors to reverse slumping sales caused by a liquidity crisis in the banking system.

A total of 69,359 units of various types of motorbikes were registered at the Bagmati Zone Transport Office in fiscal 2009/10 against 48,811 units in the previous FY.  “Sales of bikes have gone up significantly in the capital as it is easy and affordable compared to four-wheelers,” said Madan Singh Mahat, office in-charge and under secretary of the Motorcycle Unit. “Moreover, the various promotional schemes launched on different occasions also supported the growth.”

Jul 19, 2010

Trolley buses to be back?

                  

KATHMANDU, JUL 09 - The government is planning to bring back trolley buses in the Kathmandu Valley under the Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Transport (KSUT) project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

According to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, the project would introduce trolley buses most likely on the Ring Road, the Bishnumati Link Road and the Bhaktapur-Kathmandu route under the second phase of the KSUT that is scheduled to start in 2013.

“Even though we had a bad experience of operating trolley buses, the new system will be managed and operated by the private sector with funding from the government,” said Purna Kadariya, secretary of the Ministry of Physical Planning. “Loans will be provided to interested firms by the government.”

Jun 24, 2010

Budgets too slow keep bridges too far

KATHMANDU: The government’s target to complete construction of 71 bridges within the current fiscal year is not going to be fulfilled as the required extra funds have been delayed.

The Ministry of Physical Planning and Works had asked the Ministry of Finance to allocate an additional budget of Rs. 949.4 million four months ago. However, the ministry approved the proposal only about five weeks ago.

“The lengthy process leading to the approval of the additional budget has delayed construction,” said a source at the ministry. “As a result, only around 50 bridges will be completed as we don’t have sufficient time to finish the rest within this fiscal year.”

850 kg of gold imported under quota system


KATHMANDU: The seven commercial banks authorised to import gold have brought in a total of 850 kg under Nepal Rastra Bank’s (NRB) quota system as of June 18, said the Nepal Bankers Association (NBA).
“We have imported 850 kg of gold as of Friday and issued recommendations for 900 kg,” said Saroj Guragain, coordinator of the gold importing banks at the NBA. “Now, we have 40-50 kg of gold in stock, and the process to import more as per the provision is going on.”

Jun 12, 2010

TV, FM licences to go?

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has initiated a process of scrapping licences of FM and television stations that have not started their broadcast.

The MOIC move apparently intends to discourage the trend of holding licenses and give opportunities to prospective broadcasting companies. MOIC statistics show, 40 FMs and 8 television companies (seven satellite and one terrestrial) have failed to go on air even after getting the license. Of them, one FM and seven television companies are based in Kathmandu. Some obtained licence four years ago and are renewing it annually without broadcasting programmes.

Jun 11, 2010

Police to file cases against Unity promoters

KATHMANDU: Nepal Police has decided to file cases of banking crime and fraud against promoters of Unity Life International, officials said. It has also prepared a report recommending action against them.

The banking crime charge invokes Bank and Financial Institution Act 2006 while the fraud case follows the Muluki Ain. An investigation panel formed under the Ministry of Finance had concluded that the company violated 12 different existing laws.

SP Bikram Thapa, chief of Metropolitan Police Range Lalitpur, said the police would lodge the charge sheet at the District Court Lalitpur on Friday.

Mar 4, 2010

Gold import crosses 14 tons

Country´s gold import crossed over 14.03 tons, which is about two-fold higher than the annual total demand, in mere first seven-and-a-half months of 2009/10 - thanks to cross-border duty difference and rising smuggling to India.

Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers´ Association (Negosida), which argues that the country´s total gold demand increased substantially this year with more people taking gold as alternate investment avenue, too estimates that the monthly national demand of yellow metal remains just at around 450 kg.

But statistics shows that import in each of the month from mid-July 2009 to February end 2010 well exceeded this figure -- highest one being 2,875 kg for the month ending mid-January (sixth month of the fiscal year).

Newsnp resumes blogging

Dear newsnp visitors,
First of all thank you very much for being with newsnp. Our team had started blogging three years back but due to professional obligation we were not able to carry out regular work properly. But now, after a long gap we are again back to you with latest happeing in Nepal. Please do visit us at least once a day. Thank You