Govt in talks with ADB to launch VoBS

KATHMANDU: The government is once again mulling over introducing controversial voice over broadband service here despite objection from major telecom companies. The Himalayan Times has learnt that the Ministry of Information and Communications is holding talks with the Asian Development Bank, which is funding the project, in this regard.

eGMP gets priority in IT roadmap

KATHMANDU: If things goes as per plan of the government, the much awaited implementation of e-government master plan (eGMP) will start within five years. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (MoSTE) has included this plan in an integrated draft roadmap prepared to guide IT sector’s development.

Govt unlikely to meet vehicle tax target

KATHMANDU: The government is unlikely to meet target of vehicle tax collection in the current fiscal year. The Department of Transport Management report shows it collected Rs 4.02 billion vehicle tax which is 87.4 per cent of the target fixed for first nine months of this fiscal year.

NTA reserves profit Rs 13.34b

KATHAMNDU: Even as there is huge rise in income and profit, the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) is unable to make better use its resource for development in telecom sector. The government record shows that the telecom regulator has reserved profit of Rs 13.34 billion. 

Consultant selection for 10 town plan halted

KATHMANDU: The government’s plan to set up 10 new town along the Mid-Hill Highway has received setback after the consulting firms bidding to provide service filed a case in the Supreme Court. This has halted work on hiring new consultants to prepare master plan of the proposed modern towns.

Govt, China CAMC sign pact to build Pokhara airport

KATHMANDU: The government has finally signed agreement with China CAMC Engineering Co to build the much talked about Pokhara airport. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) on Thursday signed commercial agreement with the Chinese firm to build the airport at US$ 215.96 million under engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.

Smart Telecom solves its share ownership dispute

KATHMANDU: Smart Telecom’s dispute on share ownership has ended with an agreement to bring a strategic partner. The company which bagged unified licence last year is undergoing homework to sale a certain percent of share to an international partner and expand service nationwide.  

NTA union pile pressure to issue untimatum to UTL

KATHMANDU: Employees’ union of the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has piled pressure on NTA Board and management to issue ultimatum to United Telecom Limited (UTL) to collect unified licence. The union on Tuesday provided one month’s time to do so.

Manage alternative locations: Crushers

KATHMANDU: Crusher entrepreneurs have demanded that the government to immediately manage alternative location to run their industries or scrap new criteria fixed for crusher industries. They demanded so citing that it is impossible to find proper location on the basis of the government fix rules.

80 pc rural households in mobile access: AHS

KATHMANDU: Mobile phone has become a major service to reach in the hand of rural people. The annual household survey (AHS) 2012-13 shows that nearly 80 per cent of rural households have access to mobile phone facility. Thanks to increased service network of telecom companies.

East-West railway plan faces trouble

Himalayan News Service
KATHMANDU: Failure to get the alignment approved from the government has left the national priority project-Mechi-Mahakali Electric Railway in trouble. The Department of Railways, the project implementing agency has faced problems in preparing detailed project report (DPR) and acquiring land.

MRP must for outbound workers: DoFE

Kathmandu: From Thursday onward, anyone planning to leave the country for foreign employment must acquire machine readable passport (MRP) to get work permit. On Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) said that it would not issue final work permit for individuals carrying hard-written passport.

Most migrants die due to cardiac arrest

KATHMANDU: Cardiac arrest is the major reason for unnatural deaths and rising number of Nepali workers dying in foreign labour destinations. The government statistics show that nearly 600 individuals lost their life due to cardiac arrest in last seven years.

Legitimacy of NTA's ad-hoc board in question

KATHMANDU: Various decisions taken lately by the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), including the one on granting permission to two telecom companies to expand services, may be annulled, as the legitimacy of the existing ad-hoc board that leads the telecom sector regulatory body has been called into question.

Govt plans to sign contract for railway DPR study for western sections

KATHMANDU: The government is working out on signing a contract for detailed project report (DPR) study of two additional sections of the proposed Mechi-Mahakali Electric Railway project. The Department of Railways recently invited request for proposal from shortlisted firms to this effect.

MoIC asks regulator to renew NT's mobile licence

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) on Thursday directed Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) to renew the GSM licence permit of Nepal Telecom (NT) without charging Rs 20 billion fee for now.

Load rule for cargo vehicles in offing

KATHMANDU: The government is preparing to restrict the movement of overloaded cargo carriers across the country to keep the roads in good shape and minimise traffic accidents. In this regard, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) is all set to introduce a guideline fixing load capacity of such vehicles. Heavy vehicles carrying loads more than its gross vehicle weight (GVW) will be required to destock the materials or pay a fine, according to officials at the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) that drafted the guideline. GVW is the maximum permitted weight for vehicles.

Foreign migrants lack training

Orientation centres found 'selling' certificates to workers
KATHMANDU: The government has failed to take strict action against orientation centres issuing certificates without actually providing pre-departure counselling to outbound Nepali workers. The trend of attesting that aspirants went through a training is putting the life of Nepali migrant workers at risk besides making them unaware about job destinations.

Panacea wins REC@nnect Boot Camp award

KATHMANDU: Panacea, a mobile application from Bangladesh has won the first prize of the REC@nnect Boot Camp Award as an innovative tech entrepreneurship. The application which helps in fighting against counterfeit medicines allows customers to verify themselves whether a drug is genuine or fake via the app and SMS.

Ncell brings Wikipedia Zero offer

KATHMANDU: Ncell has launched a new product — Wikipedia Zero — which enables its customers to have free access to Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclopedia. All customers having Ncell internet will be able to access online resources of Wikipedia at zero cost from Wednesday onwards.

DoCSM closes down sweet shop

KATHMANDU: The Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM) has closed down Vaishno Devi Sweet and Bhojanalaya located at Lagankhel, Lalitpur. During market monitoring on Monday, the sweet shop was found to be disregarding the instructions issued by the department during market monitoring last year. The department said that it sealed the shop and restricted it from doing business

Transport dept to call global tender

Committee to finalise bid documents within next two weeks
KATHMANDU: The Department of Transport Management is preparing to call a global tender within this fiscal year to give momentum to its plan of replacing existing motor vehicle number plates with embossed plates.

Railways dept mulls multi-year contracts

If things go according to plan‚ construction of east-west railway track bed to gather speed
KATHMANDU: If things go according to plan, the construction work of East-West Electrical Railway Line will move ahead at a faster pace from the next fiscal year. To expedite the construction work, the Department of Railways is mulling over signing multi-year contracts for construction of railway track bed.

NTA to revise terms in permits for ISPs‚ NSPs

KATHMANDU: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) is gearing up to revise terms and conditions mentioned in licences issued to internet service providers (ISPs) and network service providers (NSPs) to make them compatible to latest technological advancements.

NTA employees protest MoIC's 'unnecessary intervention'

KATHMANDU: Employees of Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) have prevented the board of directors from holding regular meetings to protest what they call ‘unnecessary intervention by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC)’.