Record auto registration in FY 2012-13

KATHMANDU, AUG 5--The registration of new vehicles in the country reached all time in the last fiscal year 2012-13, with the sales of automobile products growing. The Department of Transport Management has stated it registered a total of 208,483 vehicles, which is highest annual record.

Earlier, in 2009-10, vehicle registration had touched 201,787 units. The registration had declined in 2010-11 after the hike in excise duty and auto loan by bank and financial institutions. As per the department officials, the sales started to pick up slowly from 2011-12 after one year gap of slowdown in auto market.

The department officials and automobile dealers attribute the record registration to the increased bank financing facilities, lower interest rate, growth in sales of mainly two wheelers, increased buying capacity of customers, remittance inflow and rebound in housing business. All segments of vehicles have witnessed growth in registration in the last fiscal year.

With growth in all segments of vehicles, the registration went up by 22 percent compared to 170,084 units of the previous fiscal 2011-12. The department record shows that a total of 9,595 passenger cars have been registered by the government during last year, the number is up by 10 percent compared to 8,711 units previous year

Govt hires consultants for feasibility study to reduce the length of Mid-Hill Highway

KATHMANDU, AUG 04 - A feasibility study will be done to examine the possibility of reducing the 1,776-km length of the proposed Mid-Hill Highway by changing the alignment and building tunnels. The Department of Roads has signed a contract with two consultants to conduct the survey.

The two consultants, Integrated Developments and Research Services (IDRS) and Beam Consultant, will prepare a feasibility report identifying the locations where the highway can be shortened within 70 weeks. IDRS has been assigned the task of studying the portion east of Pokhara while Beam will study the section to its west.

From the existing 1,776-km length, the government is planning to bring it down to around 1,400-km to save travel time and reduce vehicle operating costs and the construction bill. Department officials said that the two consultants would start their work immediately after the rainy season ends.

Beside the feasibility study, black topping, gravelling and bridge construction works over selected sections of the highway will be carried out during the current fiscal year, according to Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. “Black topping for this year is planned only for those sections which could not be removed from the highway,” he added.

Govt. plans feasibility study for placing satellite

KATHMANDU, AUG --The government of late has showed urgency to place its own satellite in the orbital slot allocated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). After nearly 30 years of the slot allocation, the Ministry of Information and Communications is preparing to hire a consultant and carry out feasibility study.

ITU, the UN body for information and communication technologies has made it mandatory for Nepal to claim the slot by 2015 to keep the satellite, according to the Communications Ministry. Nepal was allocated 50 degree east and 123.3 degree east orbital slots in the space for placing the satellite in 1984 by the ITU.

A five member committee lead by Narayan Sanjel, joint secretary at the Communications Ministry is carrying out study regarding the method and work place for the feasibility study hiring a consultant. The budget for the current fiscal year 2013-14 has also announced to conduct the study to set up own satellite in the space. The budget has not talked about the resource required for the study, however; it is estimated that the study would require around Rs 100 million.

The feasibility study would determine the investment required, business model for commercial purpose and report its importance for enhancing broadcasting, national defence, telecommunications sector and weather forecasting among others. Even as the ITU allocated orbital slot to Nepal in 1984, the government had not showed seriousness to the satellite issue.

Nepal spent Rs 3.7b on bandwidth last year

KATHMANDU, AUG 01 -Nepal’s telecom companies and internet service providers (ISPs) paid Rs 3.76 billion to international carriers in bandwidth fees to access the internet in the last fiscal year. With the number of internet users soaring, service providers have been paying more for bandwidth even as services charges have been dropping due to fierce competition.

According to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), its licensees paid Rs 2.58 billion as bandwidth charges during the previous fiscal 2011-12.

The NTA recommends to the Ministry of Information and Communications that foreign exchange facility be issued to its licensees to pay bandwidth charges. Following the ministry’s okay, telecom companies and ISPs get foreign exchange from Nepal Rastra Bank to pay their international suppliers.

NTA Director Ananda Raj Khanal said that bandwidth costs had been swelling due to a heavy growth in internet users and access to international content. “Bandwidth charges increase in line with the growth in the number of internet users,” he added.