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People through at Pashupati area on the occasion of Bala Chaturdashi to remember the departed souls of their parents
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THE OFFICIALS OF ELECTION COMMISSION have started meeting with representatives of donor agencies with a view to request for technical as well as financial support in the next year’s elections for Constituent Assembly (CA). Last week, Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel met with representatives of donor partners including UN representative Ian Martin, American ambassador James Moriarty and Australian ambassador Graeme Lade, among others. Pokharel has been meeting with a number of representatives of donor organizations in recent days. Already Finance Minister has urged the donor community to provide with Rs 5.5 billion of support to help the government cover expenses related with building cantonments, bearing the expenses for the upkeep of Maoist combatants, holding election of CA, rehabilitation of displaced persons and so on. The government feels it would need nearly Rs 1.5 billion to hold the elections for CA alone.
THE VOLUME OF NON PERFORMING LOANS (NPL) of the Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) has come down to 16.2 percent of total loan outlay. The amount of NPL stands at Rs 2 billion, claims the bank management. At a program organized to mark its 70 th anniversary, chief executive officer John Fitzgerald said that the bank recovered Rs 1.7 billion of bad debts in the last one year alone. He said the bank would give top priority to recovering bad debts this year, too. He said the bank has posted profit for the past three years. This year it has posted profit of Rs 700 million. The bank has decided to distribute Rs 120 million as bonus to staffs. The bank had provided loan of Rs 10.2 billion in the past one year – which is 20 percent more than previous year. Speaking at the program, acting governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Krishna Bahadur Manandhar said that the bank management has been able to resolve many problems of the bank in past few years.
THREE NEPALIS AND THREE FOREIGN climbers have gone missing in Amadablam mountain. They have been missing since Monday (November13) when they left the third camp to scale the 6812 m high Mt. Amadablam . Three Sherpa climbers and three foreigner including one Briton, two Swedish nationals have gone missing. Meanwhile, four French mountain guides have also been missing for a week. They had gone to climb Mt. Paldor. According to president of Nepal Mountaineering Association Ang Chhiring Sherpa, a 17-member team will start searching them from Thursday.
THE CEASEFIRE CODE OF CONDUCT National Monitoring Committee has found both the government as well as the Maoists guilty of violating its provisions. The third report of the committee states that the joint committee to reduce the violation of the code of conduct has not been formed yet. The report states that the lack of the committee, which had to be formed by the talks teams of the two sides, was hindering in the effective implementation of code of conduct. The report was submitted to both the talks team on Wednesday. The third report deals with activities between September 11 and November 1. The Monitoring Committee has said that till now it has received 1425 complaints of which it has found violations of code of conduct in 913.
A REPUTED GROUP OF INDIA has shown interest in investing in the hydropower sector of Nepal . The Jindal Group has recently submitted an application to the Department of Electricity Development (DoED) showing interest to invest in 300 MW-strong Upper Karnali project. In its application, the company has stated that it would complete the construction six years from the starting date. The Group is involved in power and steel operations in India . It is soon going to complete the construction of 1000 MW strong project of gas power plant in Raigadh of Chhatisgarh state of India. Likewise, it has also initiated actions to construct 270 MW strong captive power plant in the same area. Apart from this group, other reputed Indian companies such as Reliance, Tata, GMR, Larsen & Toubro have also applied for investment in various power projects in Nepal in recent months.
IN THE WAKE OF THE NOVEMBER 8 agreement, which states that around 35,000 Maoist combatants would be sent to seven cantonments to be managed under government funding, the Ministry of Finance has appealed to foreign donor organizations based in Kathmandu as well as the UN agencies for financial support. At the meeting held in the Ministry on Tuesday (November 14), Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat appealed to donors for aid of over Rs 5 billion to manage the Maoist army, building their cantonments, provide relief to internally displaced persons, and hold elections for Constituent Assembly. The Ministry has said that the government would need around Rs 1.44 billion for maintaining the rebel cantonments (including providing them with food and other essential stuffs); Rs 1.1 billion for rehabilitating internally displaced persons; Rs 1.44 billion for holding the elections of CA; and Rs 1.44 billion for strengthening internal security.
