Tolls for Tunnel Highway to range from Rs 180 to Rs 4,520

KATHMANDU, MAY 28 -The government has agreed to allow Nepal Purbadhar Bikas Company (NPBC) to collect tolls ranging from Rs 180 to Rs 4,520 (including VAT) per vehicle for using the Kathmandu-Kulekhani-Hetauda Tunnel Highway. The company has aimed to  complete construction and bring it into operation by 2016.

On May 14, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and NPBC signed a concession agreement to build the 58-km express highway under the Private Financing in Build and Operation of Infrastructure Act 2006. As per the pact, the company will be permitted to hike the rates annually from 3.5 percent to 10.5 percent till the end of the 30-year contract period. NPBC will hand over the highway to the government in 2043 as per the BOOT Act.

NPBC has categorised vehicles into motorcycle, car/jeep/van/taxi, bus, minibus, microbus, multi-axle vehicle, truck and mini truck for the purpose of toll collection. The charges for travelling from Kathmandu to Hetauda have been fixed at Rs 180 for a motorcycle, Rs 904 for a car, jeep, van or taxi, Rs 2,373 for a bus, Rs 1,130 for microbus, Rs 2,486 for a truck and Rs 4,520 for a vehicle with more than three axles

New draft policy seeks to promote electric vehicles

KATHMANDU, MAY 27 -The government is working to bring a separate policy to promote the use of electric vehicles . The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) has readied a draft of the Electric Vehicle Policy and is scheduled to recommend it to the government within a week through the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport for approval.

The draft policy is mainly aimed at reducing air pollution through the promotion of electric vehicles . It has also envisaged converting old petrol or diesel run vehicles into electric vehicles bringing appropriate rules.

The government had formed a 14-member committee led by Director General of DoTM to make a separate transportation policy for the promotion of electric vehicles . A meeting of the committee last Friday finalised the draft prepared by its sub-committee and decided to recommend it to the government for endorsement.

25 out of every 100 Nepalis have access to internet

KATHMANDU, MAY 26 -Nepal has achieved a 24.51 percent internet penetration, according to the latest figures released by the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA).

Driven by a significant growth in GPRS, ADSL, CDMA, optical fibre and 3G internet services, the number of data subscribers has increased to 6.4 million as of mid-April from 4.6 million a year ago (as of mid-April 2012). According to the NTA, a majority of the internet subscribers are cell phone users who use GPRS — a mobile data service — in the GSM mobile network of Ncell and Nepal Telecom.

Rising demand for data service and stiff market competition has compelled internet service providers (ISPs) to come up with newer schemes at competitive prices to attract customers.

Easy access to GPRS service, tariff cut, increased trend of using smart phones, social media craze among youngsters and increasing ICT knowledge are some of the major factors responsible for the growth in the number of data users.

4.8 million NT mobile lines to hit market next month

KATHMANDU, MAY 25 -Nepal Telecom (NT) is preparing to distribute new mobile lines under its 10 million mobile lines project within a month. The state-owned telecom giant has been replacing old base transceiver stations (BTS) with new equipment in the Kathmandu valley as a prelude to the move.

NT had planned to start distributing 4.8 million new mobile lines under package B on May 17 coinciding with World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. However, technical problems and ongoing testing of the mobile network forced it to shelve the plan, according to NT.

“We need to increase the capacity of the GSM network first to start distribution of new lines,” said Sangita Pahadi, deputy manager, Mobile Service Directorate of NT. She added that the company was expected to complete the capacity enhancement work within a month.

Last June, NT and Chinese telecommunication equipment vendor Huawei Technologies had signed a contract to install 4.8 million mobile lines. NT currently maintains more than 500 mobile towers in the valley. NT said that it would add 1,000 plus towers for 2G and 3G services in the valley under package B after which service quality would have improved.

Ring Road expansion to begin on June 1

KATHMANDU, MAY 23 -The much talked about plan to widen the Ring Road in Kathmandu is scheduled to start on June 1. According to officials of the Department of Roads, the Chinese contractor has been making the final preparations to begin work by setting up its office and summoning technicians from China.

Last month, the contractor Shanghai Construction Group Company started survey work to widen the 2-km-long Koteshwor-Kalanki section as a model. Under the government’s Ring Road Improvement Project, 9 km of the road between Koteshwor and Kalanki will be upgraded in the first phase.

“The contractor has informed us that it plans to start work on June 1,” said Ashok Tiwari, chief of the Ring Road Improvement Project. He added that road widening, bridge improvement and building of an underpass at Kalanki would be done in tandem in the first phase.

Initially, two 1-km sections on the Balkhu River-Kalanki and Ekantakuna-Koteshwor sectors will be expanded. Based on these models, the remaining 7-km section will be widened; and two other junctions, Kalanki and Satdobato, will also be improved for uninterrupted operation of vehicles.

Govt. issues permission to construct tunnel highway

KATHMANDU, MAY 22--The government has issued permission to Nepal Purbadhar Bikas Company (NPBC) to construct the Kathmandu-Kulekhani-Hetauda Tunnel Highway. After a week of signing of concession agreement, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport on Tuesday, issued the letter of permission to the company giving go-ahead to start the construction work.

Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary of the Physical Infrastructure Ministry handed over the letter to Chairman of the NPBC Kush Kumar Joshi amid a function on Tuesday. The NPBC, which was especially established to under take the tunnel highway project has set the target go complete the construction of 58 km highway within four year making Hetauda only an hour drive from Kathmandu.

The highway that will start from Balkhu in Kathmandu will have three tunnels with total distance of 4.5 km in Chobhar, Kulekhani and Bhaise to reach Hetauda. The tunnel highway is estimated to cost Rs 34.5 billion. The tunnel highway is being carried out based on the Private Financing in Build and Operation of Infrastructure Act 2006 (BOOT Act) through the private, public and people’s partnership.

“This has become first project that is going to be implemented after seven years of enactment of the BOOT Act,” said Situala, addressing the commencement letter handover programme. He said that the operation of the tunnel highway would cut the travel distance and help save around Rs 15 billion a year reducing the fuel consumption. He also directed the NPBC to present the financial closer within a year as per the concession agreement.

Gold price slides further; reaches Rs 49,100 per tola

KATHMANDU, MAY 20 -Gold price has continued to drop further, pushing up the demand in the local market. The price of the precious yellow metal dropped by Rs 650 to reach Rs 49,100 per tola (11.664 gm) on Sunday. The metal was traded at Rs 49,750 per tola on Friday. The local price set by the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silvers Dealers Association (Fenegosida) is based on Friday’s closing price of $1,360 per ounce in the international market.

As an impact of the sharp fall of Rs 6,300 in two days, the gold price had declined to Rs 49,500 per tola on April 16. Last Sunday, the yellow metal was traded at Rs 51,900 per tola. The price of silver has also declined by Rs 5 to Rs 855 per tola.

Gold dealers said the price continued to fall with investors in international market diverting their interest from gold and the dealers expect the price to go further down for a few more days. “The price in the local market is in downward momentum due to the impact of decline in international market porce,” said Manik Ratna Shakya, general secretary of Fenegosida.

With the price going down, the demand of the precious metal has increased in local market. Normally, when the price goes down, customers throng to jewellery stores to buy gold items.  However, with high demand and low supply, black marketing is thriving in the domestic market, traders said. The seizure of 16 kg gold by the police last week is an example. The demand is further fuelled by the ongoing wedding season. The demand has gone up to around 50 kg a day from normal 30 kg per day.

Road department demands Rs 1b for widening trade routes

KATHMANDU, MAY 19 -The Department of Roads (DoR) has sought Rs 1 billion in the upcoming budget to speed up trade routes widening work. For last three years, the government has been working on a project to upgrade and widen four selected sections of trade routes to six lanes.

The government’s Trade Route Improvement Project includes widening of Surya Binayak-Dhulikhel, Belhiya-Butwal, Rani-Itahari and Birjung-Pathalaiya sections. These are the country’s trade routes with India and China. The government in 2010 had decided to widen the routes to help boost trade.

However, work to this effect has not moved as anticipated due to shortage of resources and procedural delays. “We have requested the government to allocate Rs 1 billion for the trade routes widening work for upcoming fiscal year,” said Pramila Devi Bajracharya, project chief of Asset Management, Contract Management and Quality Control Project of the department.

Govt, NPBC sign final pact for tunnel highway

KATHMANDU, MAY 18 - Decks have been cleared for Nepal Purbadhar Bikas Company (NPBC) for the development of the Kathmandu-Hetauda Tunnel Highway.

A year after signing a preliminary project agreement (PPA), the government on Tuesday signed the final (concession) agreement with NPBC to construct the highway. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport is working to issue the letter of commencement soon asking the company to start project work.
The 58-km highway is estimated to cost Rs 34 billion. NPBC said the length and investment increased after the government asked the former not to overlap the highway’s alignment with Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track road.

As per the PPA signed on May 14, 2012, the tunnel highway that links Kathmandu with Hetauda via Kulekhnai was expected to be around 51 km long and the cost was estimated at Rs 20 billion. NPBC had targeted to start the construction work four months ago. However, the project work had stalled with the government delaying the concession agreement, expressing reservations over the alignment and project financing.

NTA flouts rule book to issue permits to UTL, Smart Telecom

KATHMANDU, MAY 18--It has been revealed that the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) decided to issue the unified licence two telecom companies—Smart Telecom and United Telecom Limited (UTL) breaching the government set rules. Only the companies completing service expansion in the government designated areas and paying outstanding dues are eligible for obtaining the unified licence, according to the criteria set in the Nepal Gazette.

However, NTA board (currently also known as stop gap committee to make decision in the absence of NTA Chairman) on April 11 decided to issue licence to Smart Telecom which has not yet finished service expansion in areas fixed by the government in its old licecnce provided five years ago. Likewise, even though UTL is yet to clear the dues to the government, the company was decided to issue the unified licence on the basis of Baburam Bhattarai led government’s decision to collect over Rs 1 billion dues royalty from UTL in eight installments in eight years.

The unified licence provision was introduced by the government a year ago giving name of “basic telecom service” with a target to allow small telecom companies provide nationwide multiple telecom services including GSM mobile under a single licence and make local telecom market more competitive. Currently only Ncell and Nepal Telecom have been providing GSM mobile service.

Telecom user base crosses 20m mark

KATHMANDU, MAY 11 - Nepal now has 20 million telecom subscribers. Although now announced officially, the latest milestone in the telecom sector was achieved in the first week of May.
It took almost a century to reach the 10-million mark. But the next 10 million came in just two and half years. It was in November 2010 when the country’s total telecom subscriber had crossed the 10-million mark.

The overall growth in the number telecom subscribers has been supported by the growth in the number of customers in the GSM mobile segment. Of the total subscribers, 17 million are mobile users.
There was also another milestone reached this month: Ncell’s subscriber base has crossed the 10-million mark. The company had toppled Nepal Telecom (NT) form the No 1 spot in the GSM mobile segment two years ago.

According to Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), Ncell’s subscriber base crossed 10 million on May 3. “Subscribers of Ncell crossed 10 million on May 3, which shows that the total users of telecom services have crossed 20 million,” said a source at the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA).
With Ncell having 10 million subscribers, the remaining 10 million subscribers belong to five other telecom companies — Nepal Telecom, United Telecom Limited (UTL), Smart Telecom, STM Telecom Sanchar and Nepal Satellite Telecom (NST).

Nepal Telecom set to launch ‘cheapest’ mobile Net service

KATHMANDU, MAY 08 -Nepal Telecom (NT) is set to introduce the “cheapest” mobile Internet service based on CDMA technology soon. The state-owned company will make available the data service at 20 Paisa per MB, as per the packages and tariff proposed at the Nepal Telecom munications Authority (NTA) for the approval.

The data packages have been designed in different volumes and validity periods ranging from one day to one year. Currently, the NT is providing data service known as EVDO or Sky Pro through its CDMA networks at 54 paisa per MB before taxes. The EVDO, also known as third generation (3G) CDMA, has a maximum speed of 3.1 Mbps and capacity to provide both voice and data service through same RUIM card. “We are going through the NT proposal on its new data packages,” said Arjun Ghimire, deputy director at the NTA. He said that the increased competition among telecom companies and internet service providers have reduced the price for Internet use. The NT is planning to launch the Sky Pro data packages as soon as it gets the go ahead from the NTA.

Construction materials factories proliferate

KATHMANDU, MAY 6--When it comes to development of any physical infrastructure, construction materials are the major components. In the last one decade, around 150 construction material factories from cement, paint and bricks to steel factories have been established with an eye on the realty sector and the government’s infrastructure development projects.

Industrialists and building material dealers said that it was the demand from the realty sector that has kept them in business as government orders have been on a decline. Due to lack of a timely budget, the government’s spending in the infrastructure sector moved at a snail's pace which has left a negative impact on the construction materials business, according to traders.

The housing sector that had been going through hard times for the past four years has started showing encouraging growth in the last six months. Developers said that Nepal Rastra Bank’s directive to permit loans of up to Rs 10 million under the home loan category had played a major role in the sector's gradual recovery. For the housing sector which took a big shape in the last one decade, dozens of cement, steel and paint factories have been established in the country thus helping to replace imports.

‘Ncell Loaded’ in Samsung Galaxy S4

KATHMANDU, MAY 05 - Ncell is launching a special offer for Samsung Galaxy S4 buyers. Under the scheme, buyers of the latest Samsung flagship smartphone will get 1 GB data a month for three months for free.The much-awaited Samsung Galaxy S4 will be launched in the Nepali market on Sunday.

To claim the offer, customers have to produce the voucher that they get while purchasing the device within 90 days after the launch date. According to the Ncell , if the buyers already hold an Ncell SIM, they can instantly activate and start using the Ncell data service on the new device through SMS, IVR or USSD.

NT starts distribution of IP-CDMA-based RUIM cards

KATHMANDU, MAY 05 -Nepal Telecom (NT) is working aggressively to expand its IP-CDMA technology-based third generation (3G) data service “EVDO” across the country. The company has started distribution of RUIM cards, promoting the service with brand name “Sky Pro”.

RUIM card allows customers to avail voice and data service up to 3.1 Mbps. The old CDMA technology of NT offered data speed of up to 2.4 Mbps, but customers had to obtain a separate RUIM card for data purpose. NT officials said IP-CDMA lines being distributed was under the 2 million IP-CDMA project of the company.

In the current fiscal year, NT targets to distribute 270,000 lines across the country. The “Sky Pro” service is being touted as the cheapest high-speed internet service. NT has said even the old CDMA users will be able to avail high-speed data service, after the migration from old technology to new is completed.

124th May Day marked

KATHMANDU, MAY 1--Workers and trade unions across the country marked the 124th International Labour Day on Wednesday, organising separate rallies and programmes. On the occasion, they also made their common demand for implementation of long planned social security schemes for workers.

All 11 trade unions including the three major ones— the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), Nepal Trade Union Congress-Independent (NTUC-I) and All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) organised separate progarmmes to observe the day. The big trade unions programmes organised in different parts of the country were addressed by senior leaders of political parties.

In Kathmandu, the ANTUF has organised an assembly at Bhrikutimandap. The NTUC-I oranised rally and conversed into assembly at Shantibatika, Ratna Park. Ram Sharan Mahat, Central member of the Nepali Congress and former Finance Minister addressing the gathering said that the only the better coordination between the workers and employers would lead to economic revolution in the country.

Govt, workers, employers in pay hike talks

KATHMANDU, APRIL 30 -As the world celebrates the May Day on Wednesday, the government, employers and trade unions are holding talks for increasing the minimum wage of workers.

With the inflation rate reaching around 10 percent, trade unions have been pressuring the government set the minimum salary at Rs 12,000. The common forum of seven trade unions — Joint Trade Union Coordination Centre (JTUCC) — is also positive on inflation-based salary hike.

The unions said the minimum wage should be fixed in such a way that the salary would be sufficient for a worker to live with a family. “Our study has shown that a worker needs at least Rs 12,000 per month for living a normal life,” said Bishnu Rimal, president of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT).

All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) has also been demanding the government fix the minimum monthly salary at Rs 12,500.A tripartite committee Minimum Wage Determination Committee formed by the government a month ago is doing homework in this regard. The committee has been given a two-month time to fix the minimum salary of industrial workers, except for those working in tea estates.