Gold import down by 50 pc

KATHMANDU, NOV 29 -Gold import halved in the first quarter of the current fiscal year compared to same period last year. The country imported the precious yellow metal worth Rs 3.5 billion in the period between mid-July and mid-October compared to Rs 7 billion worth of import a year ago, according to the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)’s report on the current microeconomic situation.

Smart Telecom gripped by ownership dispute

KATHMANDU, NOV 28 -Smart Telecom, which is planning to launch nation-wide GSM mobile service, has been embroiled in an ownership dispute. The dispute surfaced after a group, claiming that it has bought a 54 percent stake in the company, appointed a new chairman. But the founding group says it has not sold any stake and that it has complete ownership in the company.

Market monitors catch clothing, shoes traders

KATHMANDU, NOV 27 -The government’s market monitoring initiative has revealed that sellers of readymade garments and shoes have been cheating customers on price and the government on taxes. Besides engaging in illegal practices like under invoicing, some traders have been enjoying a profit margin of up to 300 percent, said the Department of Commerce and Supply Management.

The wrongdoings of traders came to light when the department inspected a number of shops selling readymade garment and shoes in the capital. “There are cases where a garment with a cost price of Rs 400 has been priced at Rs 2,600,” said Hari Narayan Belbase, director of the department. “We have clearly exposed that the market condition is really terrible.”

There is a huge difference in customs valuation prices for VAT collection purposes and retail prices which means traders have also been cheating the government, according to the department.

Responding to growing complaints, the department had checked out eights shops dealing in readymade garments, shirting and suiting and shoes at Putali Sadak and Mahabauddha on Monday and Tuesday. The government’s monitoring has so far been focused on daily essential goods to control artificial shortages and price hikes and keep a watch on quality.

82 percent Nepalis have access to phone services

KATHMANDU, NOV 26 -Nepal’s telephone service penetration rate reached 82.49 percent as of mid- September. The Nepal Telecommuni-cations Authority (NTA) said that 21.85 million Nepalis have access to telecom services out of the total population of 26.4 million.

Cell phone users make up nearly 90 percent of the total users of telecom services. Mobile services are being provided by two main telecom companies-Ncell and Nepal Telecom (NT). Two other operators-Smart Telecom and United Telecom Limited (UTL)-are also preparing to go nationwide with their mobile services by obtaining a unified telecom licence.

NT has 19.4 million mobile subscribers including 973,392 users of CDMA mobile service, according to the latest Management Information System report of the NTA. Wider network coverage, value added services and cheaper service rates resulting in competition among the companies are the reasons behind the faster growth of mobile service than other telephone services, said the NTA.

Tech body formed to revive Fast Track

KATHMANDU, NOV 25 -The government formed a technical committee on Sunday to study ways to pump life into the Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Project that became moribund after it was abandoned by potential international bidders.

With uncertainty hovering over the highly prioritized project after three Indian companies short listed to submit requests for proposal (RFP) walked away, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) set up a five-member team under the coordination of the ministry secretary Tulasi Prasad Sitaula in a bid to revive the non-starter. A high-level ministry official said that the panel would have to come up with ideas for the implementation and financing for the expressway which will link the capital with the southern plains. The 76-km highway is estimated to cost Rs 100 billion, which is equivalent to almost 20 percent of the annual national budget.

“Minister Chhabi Raj Pant has approved the proposal to form a technical committee for the Fast Track Project,” said the official. About two months ago, the project had approached the ministry with a plan to form the committee to keep it alive after the Indian firms lost interest.

NTA set to launch annual programmes

KATHMANDU, NOV 24 -The Nepal Telecommunica-tions Authority (NTA) is all set to come up with its annual programmes. The programmes are coming four months behind schedule due to the absence of a chairman at the authority and pending court cases.

After the court cleared the cases related to unified licence and an ad-hoc committee formed to function as a board two weeks ago, the telecom sector regulator became able to prepare the annual plan. The upcoming yearly plan has given continuity to many programmes of the last fiscal year.

Not able to effectively implement programmes started last year, it has repeated last year’s schemes such as construction of an office building, hold study on m-commerce, preparation of infrastructure sharing guideline, and holding study on migration to IPV6, among others.

The NTA has sent the annual programmes to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) for its concurrence. “We hope to get the consensus from the ministry very soon,” said NTA Spokesperson Kailash Prasad Neupane.As per the Telecommunica-tions Act, NTA’s annual plan has to be approved by its board before submitting it to the MoIC for final go-ahead.

Track opening work of Mid-Hill Highway to complete by next month

KATHMANDU, NOV 23 -The government is likely to complete track opening of the Mid-Hill Highway within a month.  After the completion of the remaining 3.5 km in Jajarkot, the country will have road links from East to West passing through 24 hilly districts.

Officials at the Department of Roads said the work would have completed last month if the festive season and election drive had not slowed the pace. Earlier, the department had targeted to complete the job by the end of the last fiscal year, but it had not been possible due to the rainy season affecting the work.

“We expect the track opening to complete by mid-December,” said Bala Ram Mishra, chief of the Mid-Hill Highway (Western Section). He said the work had not moved ahead effectively in the past for the lack of access roads. Mishra said they were working from both ends of the remaining alignment to finish the work at the earliest. The Mid-Hill road is one of the 21 national pride projects.

Nepalis flood social media with poll result updates

KATHMANDU, NOV 21 -Facebook and Twitter witnessed significant growth in interaction by Nepali users after the vote count of the second Constituent Assembly (CA) election started on Wednesday. That is not all; many Nepali news portals faced traffic congestion due to the rise of visitors for polls updates.

Though social media is not new to Nepali users, this is the first time such a huge number of tweets and Facebook wall posts are flooded with CA election’s result updates. “The number of tweets by Nepali users has swelled significantly on Wednesday because of the election updates,” said Aakar Anil, a social media enthusiast.

According to Anil, on average 3.5 tweets are twitted per minute mentioning #NepalVotes and tweets without hash tag and Nepali language have also increased. There are estimated 2.2 million Facebook users and 20,000 plus twitter users from Nepal. The rise in use of both social and online media in the country is attributed to the increased access of the data services.

Tax from transport lower than expected

KATHMANDU, NOV 21 -First quarter growth in revenue collection from the transportation sector fell short of expectations. The government collected Rs 2.49 billion in vehicle tax in the first three months of the fiscal year, a marginal increase of 0.8 percent year on year. The Department of Transport Management earned Rs 2.47 billion during the same period in the last fiscal.

The less than expected growth in revenue collection has been attributed to the government’s failure to implement fully a new type of driving licence test adopted last April. The number of people obtaining driving licences has fallen as the trial system planned to be implemented nationwide has not happened.

Normally, around 200,000 individuals apply for driving licences each year, according to department officials. Each applicant pays Rs 1,100 on an average for a driving licence irrespective of its category. Automobile dealers have been saying that sales of motorcycles have not grown as projected because the new trial system has not been put in place.

Quality of telecom services to be tested

KATHMANDU, NOV 21 -The Nepal Telecommunica-tions Authority (NTA) plans to carry out Quality of Service (QoS) tests of wireless telecom services in 11 districts this fiscal year.It has short-listed three consultants from among the applicants who submitted expressions of interest seven months ago.

NTA Deputy Director Uday Raj Regmi said they would ask the firms to present financial and technical proposals and then choose one of them to conduct the tests.“Since this is a programme carried over from the last fiscal year, we are waiting for the go-ahead from the Ministry of Information and Communications,” he added.

The annual plan submitted to the ministry for its okay has listed the performance test and a household opinion survey of wireless telecom services as one of the major tasks.The QoS survey will evaluate the services being provided by Nepal Telecom, Ncell and United Telecom in Kathmandu, Banepa, Birgunj, Dhangadhi, Butwal, Bhairahawa and other places in 11 districts.

NTA plans to implement MNP service next year

KATHMANDU, NOV 17 -The government is planning to give cell phone users the facility of switching to another phone company without having to change their existing number.  The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), the regulator of the telecom sector, expects to launch the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) system in the next fiscal year allowing mobile users to choose from varied telecom operators and keep using their old number.

“We will study how MNP is doing in international markets, and come up with a guideline for telecom companies to follow,” said Kailash Prasad Neupane, spokesperson of the NTA. He added that the guideline would include the criteria for users to apply for the service.

NTA officials said if the MNP service is implemented, telecom service operators will be forced to improve the quality of their service at cheaper rates to attract new users and retain their existing subscribers.

Originally, the government had planned to introduce the MNP service in 2010 considering the increase in penetration rate, growing competition among major telecom service providers, international trends and the need to expand choices for consumers.

According to Neupane, the MNP service is good for customers, but the system has not been very effective in some markets like India. The service has usually been provided in telecom markets with a high rate of mobile penetration and competition among operators.

NT Q1 profits down 32.5pc on increased expenses

KATHMANDU, NOV 17 -Nepal Telecom (NT) posted a 32.50 percent drop in its profits in the first quarter despite growth in revenues. The state-run telecom service provider posted a profit of Rs 2.42 billion in the period between mid-July and mid-October, down from Rs 3.63 billion in the same period a year ago. Revenues, however, grew by 1.93 percent to Rs 10.03 billion compared to Rs 9.84 percent last year, according to the company’s unaudited report for the first quarter released on Friday.

The decline in NT’s profits has been attributed to the rise in expenditures such as frequency and licence renewal fees and operation and maintenance, among others. Total expenditure for the quarter increased by 33.46 percent to Rs 6.62 billion from last year’s Rs 4.96 billion.

“The profit has come down mainly because of licence renewal fee which the company has to pay to the government each year,” said NT Deputy Managing Director Buddhi Acharya, adding the company allocates Rs 1 billion each quarter to pay the licence fee. NT spent Rs 1.93 billion for operation and maintenance, Rs 1 billion in licence fees and Rs 249.61 million in frequency fees in the review period. Administrative costs, contribution in Rural Telecommuni-cations Development Fund (RTDF) and royalty of the company also increased.

Sales of public vehicles drop for lack of routes

KATHMANDU, NOV 15 -Fewer commercial vehicles were registered in the first quarter reflecting a slowdown in sales . According to the Department of Transport Management, registrations of buses, trucks, heavy equipment and power trailers plunged 20.78 percent year on year. However, the number of cars, jeeps, vans, bikes and scooters being registered went up.

The department registered a total of 53,180 new vehicles from its 13 zonal offices during the period mid-July to mid-October. Among them, 4,277 were commercial vehicles like buses, mini buses, trucks, mini trucks, heavy equipment, micro buses, power trailers, pick-up vans and tempos. In the first quarter of last year, the total number of registrations stood at 49,983 units including 5,399 commercial vehicles.

Department officials have attributed the drop in registrations to a slowdown in the economy and lack of free public transportation routes. The routes available for operation of public transportation vehicles have all been taken, they said. “The trend of obtaining route permits for public transportation vehicles is down due to the lack of new routes,” said a senior official at the department. “And this has been reflected in the registration of vehicles such as buses, mini buses and micro buses.”

No shortage of essentials: Govt

KATHMANDU, NOV 14 -The government on Wednesday said it has stocked essential goods sufficient for the next 21 days and that there would be no shortage of foodstuff during the Constituent Assembly (CA) election .

The statement has come amid concerns about possible shortage and price hike of daily commodities due to the strike called by the 33-party led by the CPN-Maoist. “Stocks of rice, lentils and cereals are adequate for up to 21 days,” said Kishna Hari Baskota, secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office at a programme here on Wednesday.

Revealing the government’s preparation for maintaining smooth supply during the CA election , he said the current stock of petroleum products suffices the need for the next nine days.

According to official figures, food consumption of Kathmandu stands at 350-400 tonnes per day. The government has stocked 7,300 tonnes of rice, 1,300 tonnes of lentil and cereals, 20,000 tonnes of sugar and 80,000 tonnes of salt. The stock of sugar and salt addresses the demand for the next two and six months, respectively. Nepal Food Corporation has stocked 16,401 tonnes of foodstuff.

Mahakali Corridor highway gains momentum

KATHMANDU, NOV 14 -Work on the Mahakali Corridor, a north-south road in the country’s far west, has gained momentum with the government moving to do a detailed project report (DPR) of the southern section.Building work of the 100-km Darchula-Tinkar section in the northern part has been underway for the last three years. The southern part of the road will link Tanakpur-Jhulaghat-Darchula.

The Mahakali Corridor is one of the nine high-priority north-south roads planned by the government to link the mountainous north to the southern plains. The road that will pass through Tanakpur-Jhulaghat-Darchula-Tinkar is considered to be one of the most important highway projects for the development of the Far Western Region.

“We will be preparing the DPR of the lower section within this fiscal year with a target to start construction from the next fiscal year,” said Gopal Prasad Sigdel, project chief of the Asset Management, Contract Management and Quality Control Project. The project handles north-south corridor road projects.

NTA to keep close tab on telephone charges

KATHMANDU, NOV 13 -The government plans to monitor the tariff for telecom services in a bid to protect consumer rights. As per the annual programme of the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), it will be preparing a guideline within this fiscal year to allow it to begin checking the fees telephone users are being charged.

The tariff monitoring plan follows a flurry of complaints that some telecom companies have been charging more for voice services than the rate approved by the NTA. The NTA does not have any legal framework to pursue complaints about higher charges.

According to the NTA, it will check the fees for telecom companies on the basis of customer complaints as per the proposed guideline. It also plans to check the rates annually. Preparing the guideline is one of the major tasks the telecom regulator has scheduled for this fiscal year as per the plan approved by the NTA board recently.

Transporters to operate vehicles

KATHMANDU, NOV 13 -Transport entrepreneurs have agreed to operate vehicles normally from Wednesday.The transporters’ commitment came after the government on Tuesday assured them of security and quick compensation in case of any damage. “Public vehicles and cargo carriers will ply on the roads as usual,” said Bijay Bahadur Swar, senior vice president of the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE).

Earlier, even as the government had pledged to bear 90 percent expense of the damage to vehicles, the number of public plying on the road was less, affecting the daily life across the country. The 33-party alliance led by the CPN-Maoist has called transport strike against the Constituent Assembly (CA) election slated for November 19.

“With the transporters accepting our request, public vehicles will operate normally from Wednesday,” Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. The government has decided to provide security, compensation and help get insurance claims easily in case of any damage to vehicles.

To encourage transporters, the government has assured providing insurance money in a simplified way. Tuesday’s meeting has decided to make available insurance claims of up to Rs 500,000 within 15 days, up to Rs 1 million in a month and claims of over Rs 1 million would be provided after a month in coordination with the Insurance Board and insurance companies concerned.

No shortage of essentials during strike: Govt, traders

KATHMANDU, NOV 11 -Amid concerns about possible shortage and price hike of essential goods during the nine-day transport strike called by the 33 political parties led by the CPN -Maoist, the government and traders have claimed they have maintained adequate stock.

The transport strike follows Monday’s Nepal banda organized by the parties opposed to the November 19 Constituent Assembly election. The government has said it will also intensify market monitoring to curb any possible artificial shortages and price hikes.

Amid skyrocketing vegetable prices, there is fear among the public about a possible shortage of daily essentials, resulting in price rise. Prices of vegetables like cauliflower, potato, tomato, and onion have already skyrocketed due to low supply. Officials at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies said the government has maintained sufficient stock of daily essential goods, including rice, lentils, sugar and salt and the supply of vegetables has increased since Monday.

Govt gives building Fast Track road on its own a good thought

KATHMANDU, NOV 10 -After efforts to have international companies construct the Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track failed miserably, the government is considering using its own resources to build the much-prioritized project.

Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) Tulasi Prasad Sitaula said a plan to use government resources and build the project in a phased manner is under consideration.

The rejection by three Indian firms from participating in the request for proposal (RFP) to construct the project was a major disappointment to the government as it had spent more than four years to select eligible companies.

Sitaula said the government could go for an option of building a two-lane road initially, instead of the proposed four-lane standard. “In the second stage, we can go for bridges and then for four lanes and all this due to budget constraints,” he said. The project requires an estimated Rs 100 billion.

Sitaula said that at least three options, including this one, would be taken forward to the steering committee of the project, which is headed by the Physical Infrastructure Minister. With the government machineries all engaged in the November 19 poll preparations, Situala said the steering committee will not meet before the polls.

NPBCL to submit performance security Rs 180m

KATHMANDU, NOV 08 -Nepal Purbadhar Bikas Company Limited ( NPBCL ) has said that it would submit performance security of around Rs 180 million to the government within a week to build the Kathmandu-Hetau-da Tunnel Highway. The company has planned to start preliminary construction work on the project on Monday.

An agreement between the company and the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport signed on May 14, 2013, requires the former to submit 0.5 percent of the project cost as performance security to the government within six months after the agreement. “We are starting preparatory and preliminary construction work from Monday and performance security too will be submitted as per the agreement,” said NPBCL Vice-president Lal Krishna KC, who is also the project manager. He said they would first work on the access road and logistics required.

The planned access road will lead to the tunnel portal area for the construction of the tunnel, according to the company. The four-lane 58-km highway will have three tunnels with an approximate length of 4.55 km.
The project is estimated to cost Rs 34.5 billion, based on which the company will have to deposit a one-year performance security of Rs 172.5 million. The contract also holds the company responsible to get the government’s approval for the design of the road before starting the work on permanent infrastructure.

NTA to ask UTL about licence delay

KATHMANDU, NOV 07 -The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) is preparing to inquire United Telecom Limited ( UTL ) about the latter’s delay in acquiring unified licence. The NTA board had decided to award the licence to UTL in April.

With UTL not obtaining the licence, the government’s plan to auction the third generation (3G) spectrum is yet to be materialised. Introducing the Spectrum Policy, also known as the Telecommunication Service Radio Frequency (Distribution and Pricing) Policy 2012, last year, the government had decided to auction the 3G frequency within a year after issuing at least two unified licences.

Till now, the NTA has granted only one such licence to Smart Telecom. Issuance of two unified licences are mandatory to auction the 3G spectrum. A senior NTA official said the authority is preparing to take the UTL issue to the NTA board. “We might also set a deadline for UTL to claim the licence,” the official said.

As per the Spectrum Policy, if at least two telecom companies fail to take the unified licence, 3G spectrum will be provided to Ncell, Nepal Telecom and Smart Telecom as per their demand in the existing price — Rs 240 million for 2x10 MHz a year without auctioning. Smart Telecom, which is working on its service expansion plan, has not demanded 3G frequency so far, according to the NTA.

Railway project chugs along six months behind schedule

KATHMANDU, NOV 07 -The Railway Department plans to start conducting a detailed project report (DPR) of the western sections of the proposed Mechi-Mahakali Electric Railway by the end of this fiscal year. It said it would invite requests for proposal (RFP) to do the survey within two weeks.

The department said it would ask short-listed firms to submit RFPs for the Butwal-Lamahi (115 km) and Lamahi-Kohalpur (102 km) sections among the four sections in the western Butwal-Gaddachowki sector. As per the government’s plan, RFPs for all four sections (420 km) should have been invited six months ago. However, inadequate personnel and procedural delays held up the plan, said the department. “We do not have enough manpower which led to delays,” said Rajeshwor Man Singh, superintendent engineer of the department. He added that they would select consultants for the Kohalpur-Sukhkhad and Sukhkhad-Gaddachowki sections within this year.

After the government issues the RFP notice, it will take at least four months to evaluate the proposals received and select a consultant. The DPR of the Butwal-Gaddachowki sector, estimated to cost Rs 1.20 billion, will include a 14-km rail link connecting Kohalpur with Nepalgunj, as per the department. The Butwal-Gaddachowki section is the fourth section after the Bardibas-Simara, Simara-Tamsaria and Tamsaria-Butwal-Bhairahawa sections for which the government is starting the DPR.

Telecom companies report surge in phone calls

KATHMANDU, NOV 03 -With election fever gripping the country, telecom companies are witnessing a huge surge in voice and sms services.The use of voice, SMS and data services has gone up in urban as well as rural areas, thanks to the political parties’ poll campaign that reaches fever pitch nationwide.

According to telecom operators, voice service is estimated to have increased by 15-30 percent in the last one month as compared to the same period last year. Normally, the call rate and flow of text messages see a decline soon after Dashain. But this year, it has continuously gone up.

According to Nepal Telecom (NT), there is no decline in the daily average call of its mobile service in rural areas even after Dashain. “There is a huge growth in voice service use, especially in rural areas. This is because candidates are reaching out to rural voters,” said Sangita Pahadi, deputy manager of NT’s Mobile Service Directorate. According to Pahadi, Chitwan, Kavre, Sunsari and Morang are some districts where the use of the services has gone up significantly.

NT’s CDMA service that has a comparatively wider network has also felt the poll impact. The Wireless Service Directorate of the NT has said the call rate has increased by 30 percent this season compared to the same season last year. SMS circulation by users of NT’s CDMA and IP CDMA, known as Sky Pro users, has increased by around 80 percent, according to the NT. “Service upgradation of the CDMA and schemes launched for the festivals have also taken the demand up,” said Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, director of NT’s Wireless Service Directorate. According to NT officials, the rise in the usage has, however, hit the quality of services with network congestion reported in many areas.

Car registrations up on offers, cheap loans

KATHMANDU, NOV 02 -Registration of new passenger cars soared in the first two months of the fiscal year mainly due to promotional schemes and easier auto loans.

According to the Department of Transport Management (DoTM), 1,663 vehicles were registered in the car/jeep/van category during the period mid-July to mid-September. The figure represents a jump of 31.25 percent year on year.

The rise in registrations has been attributed to increased pre-festival demand, incentive schemes launched by dealers and easier auto loans provided by banks. Banks have cut interest rates on hire purchase loans as they are awash in liquidity.

A total of 32,709 vehicles were registered during the review period, with two-wheelers making up 86.17 percent. Registration of buses dropped to 383 units from last year’s figure of 581.

During the same period last year, the department registered 30,918 vehicles including 26,431 two-wheelers and 1,267 passenger cars . Department officials said that the widening of city roads and availability of cheaper auto loans might have encouraged more people to buy automobiles.

Big companies pushing rural ISPs out of market

KATHMANDU, OCT 31 -Rural internet service providers (ISP) have been vanishing from the scene after failing to compete with big companies that have reached their home turf. Recently, the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) scrapped the permits of three such rural ISPs after they went out of business .

The NTA has cancelled the operating licences of Mandabi Multipurpose Society Development Centre based in Daman, Hetauda; Samajik Nyayakalagi Sanchar Abhiyan of Argakhanchi and Pratidhwani Media based in Liwang, Rolpa. According to the NTA, there are now only two rural ISPs left - CIS Net Sanchar and Wireless Nepal.

NTA Spokesperson Kailash Prasad Neupane said that they had cancelled their permits as they failed to provide services. “We have been informed that they could not operate their services by competing with the big ISPs that have reached their locality,” he added. The authority issues licences to rural ISPs to provide data service in the villages.

As per the latest report of the authority, the data service penetration rate has reached 27 percent, and a majority of customers are mobile data users. As of mid-August 2013, the number of customers using data services amounted to 7.13 million, and 98.75 percent were users of NT, Ncell and UTL. The market share of other ISPs stands at a minuscule 1.25 percent.