House stalled again over electricity rate

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, July 20 - For the second day, the main opposition CPN-UML and other opposition parties stalled the House of Representatives proceeding today demanding the details on the loan signed with Asian Development Bank (ADB) that could lead to hike in electricity tariff.

Despite marathon talks between the government and the opposition parties, the two sides failed to reach agreement and when the House did convene at around 2:30 pm, opposition lawmakers stormed the front of the assembly hall and gheraoed the Speaker.

Speaker Taranath Ranabhat adjourned the meeting to resume again on Monday afternoon giving time for negotiations.

Talks between the two sides had begun in the morning and had almost reached an agreement when Minister for Water Resources Khum Bahadur Khadka agreed to pledge in the House that the electricity tariff would not be hiked immediately.

However, the truce broke after Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya reportedly refused to give copies of the agreement saying that since the government signs many of these types of agreements it was not possible to hand out each of them to all the members every time.

Minister Khadka during a program outside the capital city on Wednesday had already announced that the government had no immediate plans to increase the tariff.

However, Minister of State for Water Resources Ram Bahadur Gurung -- at around the same time -- admitted at the Parliament that the ADB had called for "adjustment" of the tariff if necessary to meet the figures set by it, make necessary changes in the Electricity Tariff Fixation Regulations and get the Electricity Leakage Control Bill through the Parliament at the earliest.

The main opposition CPN-UML and other opposition parties are demanding the government provide details of the agreement that according to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) could soon hike the price of electricity up to 30 percent to meet the loan conditions set by ADB.

Representatives of ADB and the Finance Ministry had signed a US dollar 50 million (around Rs 3.5 billion) loan last week to fund rural electrification and power sector reform programs under the government's Eighth Power Project.

When the ADB loan was sanctioned over two years back, the lending agency had demanded that the Self Financing Ratio (SFR) be 23 percent compared to the 13 percent at present and Rate of Return (RoR) to 6 percent which is 2 percent at present. According to NEA, this would have calculated the price of electricity to be hiked by 60 percent.

Last year, the government hiked the price of electricity up to 30 percent (25 percent for Industrial purposes and 30 percent for general consumers). At present, a unit of electricity costs Rs. 6.50 on an average which, even by official admission, makes Nepal's price the costliest in South Asia and among the costliest in the world.

Garbage mount up epidemic threat in capital

By Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, July 20 - There is a possibility of outbreak of epidemic like gastro-enteritis and enteric fevers (typhoid and para typhoid) if the garbage around the city is not disposed properly and promptly.
This is the general consensus of the doctors who are closely examining increased flow of patients with diseases mentioned above, and other water-borne diseases.

"As residents of the Kathmandu Valley are more aware than elsewhere, there is less chance of epidemic," said Dr Mahendra Bahadur Bista, Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division. "But there might be sporadic cases of outbreak."

"In case there is an emergency, we are ready to meet it," added Dr Bista. He further said that in March this year Epidemic Preparedness and Response System was formed to meet with any such eventuality. This Kathmandu-based unit is a monitoring agency for the already existing Rapid Response Team (RRT) in each of the 75 districts in the country. "RRT is trained to tackle any sudden outbreak of any disease," said Dr Bista, adding, "we have enough medicines."

He suggested that people follow the basic hygienic habits as prevention of any disease.
Meanwhile, out of the 663 cases that were registered in the Nepali month of Asad (mid- June to mid-July) at Kathmandu's Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, 518 cases alone were of gastro-enteritis. However, Dr Peeyoosh Kumar 'Rajendra' declined to say how many were from the Valley alone, saying his hospital admitted cases from all over the country.

On the question of outbreak of epidemic, Keshav Sthapit, Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, said not only KMC but also none of the government agency is capable enough to respond in the case of epidemic of any sort.

He complained that no one was serious about methods he has been suggesting for the permanent dispose of the garbage due to political animosity.

He cited an example of Sundarighat, away from Tribhuvan University, where locals have agreed to an aerated and recycled sewerage pond in 500 ropanis of land. But he is sad that the same locals have rejected a manure plant in a nearby plot of 200 ropanis.

He further said that due to "undesirable" political interference, KMC was not able to solve the garbage dumping problem. "KMC had proposed to all concerned to follow the Fukuoka and Indian CELRI methods," said Sthapit.

According to the Mayor, Fukuoka, a city in Japan, has devised a system of successfully dumping garbage and other solid wastes. The Japanese reportedly use porous polythene pipes and bamboos, which are made to pass through layers of refuse. The holes allow air to escape and in the first 'Fukuoka' step itself BOD (a poisonous content) is brought down by 10 per cent and subsequently there is little amount of poison left. He said air pollution caused by it is negligible. "Japanese experts have offered us both technical and financial help but some political leaders are opposing the move because they don't like me taking the credit," said Sthapit. He declined to name the leaders.
Similarly, in many Indian cities local authorities have teamed up with people to make similar layers at land-fill sites. Water and bacteria are added to the refuse to convert it into compost in such plants. "This takes care of 80 percent of the waste, 10 percent is recycled and the remaining portion, mostly mud and stones are rejected," said Sthapit.

Crammed city buses, beeline at major stops...

By Tilak Prasad Pokharel

KATHMANDU, July 20 - Look at this comparison. Time taken by a bus from Thankot to reach the City Bus Park - a distance of 11 km - is equal to that taken by a bus from Dhulikhel - a distance of about 33 Km.

The reason: the City Bus from Thankot spends on average at least five minutes at the bus stops while the long-distance buses - as the one from Dhulikhel - don't stop that long.

As a result, thousands of commuters, who belong to the middle-class and lower middle-class, are made to spend agonizing moments in the crammed buses each day.

"I go to Thapathali everyday. It takes about an hour by bus while a motorcycle takes not more than 20 minutes," says Saurav Kiran Shrestha, a student from Thankot. "I have received a tag of 'late-comer' in the college."

Some buses stop for up to 15 minutes at certain stations, usually the so-called "major stops" which include Balaju, Baneshwor, Kalimati, Kalanki, Gaushala, Swoyambhu, Koteshwor and Chabahil.
Besides the long waits at the Bus Stops, many drivers stop their vehicles to accommodate stray passengers anywhere on the way, which according to Pawan Prasad Kharel, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) at Valley Traffic Police Office (VTPO) is not permissible.

A beeline of buses are seen during the peak hours at major stops like Baneshwor, Koteshwor and Gaushala while the VTPO demands that two city buses aren't allowed to stop at a particular bus-stop together.

"But we lack sufficient number of police to man these stations and as a result, the drivers are getting unruly," says DSP Kharel.

According to VTPO, there is a provision for "immediate action" against those who flout the rule "but no official complaint has been filed yet."

Bus drivers have a different story to tell: that they are "sandwiched between police and trade unions". The former put up one set of regulations while the latter ask us to follow a different set of guidelines.

But more than anything else, it is the Valley's ever-increasing traffic load that leads to the delay. At times the four-wheelers are stranded for even half and hour while motorcycles and cycles snake through the traffic jam. "As a matter of fact, the two-wheelers with their freewheeling habits add to the traffic delays," says Abdul Rahis Khan, chief of Department of Transport Management. "We need to ban the registration of new motorcycles." He instead recommends the promotion of mass transportation.

Planners say Kathmandu's antiquated infrastructure needs a comprehensive overhauling if it is to keep pace with its growing population and wear a semblance of modern-city look.

A committee has been formed, under the chairmanship of Director General of Transport Management Department, Krishna Murari Shrestha, to improve the Valley's traffic management.

'Govt should act immediately to head off banking sector meltdown'

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, July 20 - If you assumed that the financial sector mismanagement was confined to only state-owned banks and that the joint venture banks were still safe haven for depositors, you are missing the point.

"Since majority of the joint venture banks are not maintaining the standard international accounting practices and no standard auditing guideline is followed...There is every chance that the profitability claimed by many joint venture banks is misleading," says Tirtha Raj Upadhyaya, senior chartered accountant and a KPMG Barnet representative in Nepal.

The KPMG Barnet Group's diagnostic report on the financial status of the government-owned banks - Nepal Bank Limited and Rastriya Banijya Bank - made headlines in media reports last month when it declared the two banks as "technically insolvent." Upadhyaya was a leading member of the KPMG team that assessed the financial status of the state-owned banks and has watched the Nepalese banking sector closely for long.

He argues that the joint venture banks are not free from troubles as they have systemic flaws in risk provisioning, credit rating, and other crucial areas of prudent banking practice. And, the problem of state-owned banks is beyond redemption. "Sometimes they even don't know who their borrowers are," says he.

The entry of joint venture banks was expected to upgrade the management of the overall banking sector bringing in the best management practices and inducing it to the local banks. Then what went wrong with the present modality of liberalizing the banking sector? Inviting the foreign banks is not important, what really matters is what types of banks you end up inviting, says he.
Perhaps he has a point. Many of the foreign banks, which have control over joint venture banks management, are the ones which were almost bankrupt back in home country. No doubt, it was a mistake to rely on those who couldn't keep their own home in order. "While liberalizing the banking sector, we should have become selective by permitting the entry to only, say, top hundred banks of the world."

Weak legal frameworks and regulatory mechanism add to worsen the imprudent banking sector. There are so many loopholes in the standing laws that the borrower can easily fool the law in complicity with the bank officials, and "that is precisely what is happening here".

Updhyaya points out the Commercial Bank Regulation as a case in point. It stipulates that no director or his/her immediate relative can obtain loan from the bank. This legal provision has been fooled by many shareholders by nominating their close aide in the board to fulfil their interest. "We have to plug such loopholes borrowing from the best international practices, if necessary. In a prudent banking system, not only directors but also the shareholders capable of nominating board directors are barred from obtaining loans," says he.

He attributes part of the current banking sector anomaly to the failure of the Central Bank to fulfill its role as a regulator. "If the Central Bank had enforced the rules and regulations in their best spirits, probably we would not have such a cancerous problem in the banking sector," says he.
Where should the government start intervening to ward off the possible financial sector meltdown?
The first thing is to ask all the banks - public and private - to update their accounts as per the best international accounting standard. It is only then that the government will make a real estimation of the problem, says he.

Second step is to make the central bank totally independent. "Unless, we completely insulate the central bank from political interference, the intricate nexus between the politicians and businessmen will find ways to play dirty with the banking system.

The third step is to strengthen legislative frameworks and enforce banks to maintain corporate governance standard once and for all.

Govt, UML lauded for outlawing Kamaiya system

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, July 20 - Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), one of the NGOs struggling to liberate Kamaiyas, has lauded the government's move to outlaw the practise of bonded labour in the country and demanded steps to rehabilitate them.

"As this is the much looked for and long-awaited step, we would like to offer a vote of thanks to the government...and the main opposition party CPN(UML) deserves special thanks and applause for its solidarity," said an INSEC press release received here today.

Following a landmark cabinet decision on Monday, the government decided to outlaw the practise of bonded labour which was existing in five district of the western regions--Dang, Banke, Bardia, Kailali and Kanchanpur districts.

Minister for Land Reforms and Management Siddha Raj Ojha said while announcing the historic ban in the Parliament on Monday that those keeping bonded labours would be jailed for up to 10 years. According to non-governmental estimates there were about 200,000 Kamaiyas in the five western districts.

So far, the government has also expressed its commitment to frame a law eliminating the practice of bonded labour, besides pledging to launch skill development programs.

INSEC also called on the government and other concerned to initiate immediate steps towards rehabilitating the Kamaiyas, frame a law that guarantees the tenancy rights and implement the principle: land to the tiller.

Let "Kamaiyas be given land from the plot they had worked on since long," the release said. "The government should guarantee and ensure that the Kamaiyas have access to minimum wage, and should pay equal attention to their health, education and their individual and collective security."
The release added, "In this phase of Nepalese history that heralds the era of formation of a new society based on the principles of human rights, justice, dignity and equality, we also call on the masters holding Kamaiyas entertain their rights."

Stating that the complete elimination of the Kamaiya system requires insignificant reforms in the existing socio-economic structure, INSEC called on the government, NGOs and others concerned to work towards scientific agrarian reform aimed at the Kamaiyas.

"We also publicly declare that we are ready to provide any type of assistance and support in our command and authority to this campaign. It is in fact the more challenging part of the movement just begun," the release signed by INSEC General Secretary Subodh Pyakurel added.