Umbrella policy to lure more private investment

By Binaj Gurubacharya

KATHMANDU, Nov 22 - To complement the work of a high-level committee headed by the Prime Minister formed to take speedy decissions on investment proposals, the government has adopted an important umbrella policy that, it hopes will help attract private investments.

The Public Infrastructure Construction, Operation and Transfer Policy (PICOT) has been brought by the prime minister’s office to help the Fast Track Committee headed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. The Committee was formed about three months back, targeting the growing number of applications and interest by both local and foreign investors in the public sector.

"To achieve high growth as we target, the government investment alone is not enough. We definitely need private and foreign investments and this would be an umbrella policy to govern such investments," Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Prithvi Raj Legal told The Kathmandu Post.

Over the past few years, successive governments have done their best to attract foreign investors accommodating the pledge in their annual programmes and policies and fiscal budget documents.

With this policy, investors would be able to Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) or Build, Operate, Own and Transfer (BOOT) infrastructures for public service.

Most of the applications for investment have been for the massive hydro-electricity potential with over half a dozen investors already applying to invest. Though investments will be under the hydro-electricity policy, PICOT would be the encompassing policy for all these investments.

Besides hydropower, there are at least five other projects in the pipeline in which private investors have shown much willingness to invest and operate.

One of the major projects under this policy is the Kathmandu-Hetauda tunnel project that would link the capital city directly with the southern plain land partly through a tunnel which would cut down on time and distance.

The investor who has expressed interest in the tunnel project proposes to collect a toll from vehicles for the agreed period. The project has been stalled for the moment with the investor demanding a guarantee from the government before taking up the costly detailed survey. The government has remained reluctant to oblige.

The other project is the conversion of Lumbini airport into an international airport, a project that has been long due, but which has now been taken over by a French investor. Next in line is Pokhara airport. Applications for this project have already been sought by the government.

This policy would cover investments for road, bridge, airport, development of communications, drinking water, irrigation and electricity projects.

Investors will be able to build and operate for up to 30 years with provision that five more years can be added to that time period by the government.

In return, they will be able to charge tolls on roads and bridges, whilst in the airports, they will be able to command landing charges, parking fees and airport taxes.

Like the hydro-power policy drafted by the Ministry of Water Resources, each ministry would have supplementary policy detailing specifics.

According to a senior government minister the concept was first initiated just weeks before the election when a coalition of major political parties were in power. "The country was not even familiar with the concept of BOT, so to accelerate high-priority projects through the Fast Track Committee we needed this umbrella policy," the minister said.

And since the committee is headed by the prime minister, it would be easy for the investors to apply and for the government to coordinate.

"The policy would allow the government to eventually concentrate on the social sector while the development part would go to private investors," Legal said.

Princess Anne arriving today

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KATHMANDU, Nov 22 - Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, the Princess Royal of Britain, will arrive here tomorrow as British Council officials here look set to observe Britain in Nepal Week, from November 24-30.

The Princess Royal - the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, HRH Prince Philip - is scheduled to officially open the new building of the British Council at Lainchaur at a function on Friday, November 24.

At press conference organised to highlight the Week, British Council officials said, "This is the first new building that the British Council has commissioned anywhere in the world in over ten years, so it is a very special event."

The Week, the first of its kind to be observed in the Kingdom, will further strengthen the age-old ties which exist between the two countries and will pave the way for furthering cultural and people-to-people relations, officials said.

During the Week, a musical festival, a Best of British Film Festival and a human rights Film and Cartoon Festival will be held, according to them.

The headline event of the Week is the concert scheduled for Friday featuring Network of Sparks, an English band, and Prem Autari of Sur Sudha, a Nepali classical band. The concert will be formally opened by Virginia Bottomley, the vice chairperson of the British Council, who is also an MP and a former UK government minister.

The Best of British Film Festival will screen five films over five days to over 1,000 cinema goers at the Russian Culture Centre from Sunday, November 26, while the human rights Film and Cartoon Festival will be held at the Hotel Himalaya.

The British Council has been working in Nepal since 1959, creating and sustaining friendship and professional partnerships in education, the English language and information. The facilities of the new premises include state of the art information, education, examinations and English language teaching resources.

Ban on old vehicles in cities by '01

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KATHMANDU, November 22 - Come November 15, 2001 (Mangsir 1, 2058), and the government will ban vehicles more than 20 years old from plying in the municipal areas of the country.

In yet another bold move, the Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE) has recently decided to ban vehicles of more than 20 years old from operating in all the municipalities of the country. The decision, which has already been published in the Nepal gazette, comes more than a year after the government banned diesel-operated three-wheeler Vikram tempos from the Kathmandu Valley. According to experts, the ban will have more effect in the capital city where more than 60 per cent of all registered vehicles are concentrated.

Although officials say they are still in the process of calculating how many vehicles will be banned from operating in the Kathmandu Valley, they say between 20 to 30 per cent of the vehicles that are currently plying will bear the brunt of the ban.

According to the Department of Transport Management, about 100,000 of the 160,000 vehicles registered in the country are operating in the Valley, making the air quality even poorer. Countless studies conducted in recent times have shown that the quality of air in the bowl-shaped Valley is worse than the World Health Organization (WHO)’s permissible limits.

DPM for Constitution amendment

PARBAT, Nov 22 (PR) - Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Ram Chandra Poudel, said here today that he was ready to make amendments in the Constitution if the Maoists consider it as for the greater interest of the nation and people.

DPM Poudel made this remark while addressing a condolence meeting organised on the 13th day of the death of influential Nepali Congress leader, Tul Prasad Sherchan alias Bharat, at Pala VDC in Baglung.

Underground Maoist rebels had shot dead Sherchan on a charge of being a police informer in Baglung whilst taking a morning walk. DPM Poudel said that the government was ready to hold talks with the Maoists provided they come for the dialogue honestly.

"However, the rebels are putting forth new demands one after the other in the name of fresh dialogues with government," he said, adding that it has become their strategy to hoodwink the government.

Will TU ever be generous to its students?

By Satish Jung Shahi

KATHMANDU, Nov 22 - Nothing can be compared to the harassment that students of Tribhuvan University (TU) are presently facing due to overcrowded classes and mismanaged faculty. Neither is the dirty game of politics played by the Student Unions, which is hampering regular classes.

What seems graver now in the dotcom age is none other than the marking system that the nation’s oldest university is presently adopting. ..... All this coincides with the 27th convocation of the nation’s largest university which was held today.

Many of the university students are now saying that the "conservative and stingy" marking system that their exam papers have to undergo, is actually disqualifying them from competing in open competitive exams elsewhere.

"This is just not fair to good students," says Madhup Mangal Shrestha, who is studying Bachelor of Business Studies at People’s Campus, a private college affiliated to TU. "With the low marks I have obtained despite my strenuous efforts, it is impossible for me to compete in other universities later for my MBA."

Madhup is not the only victim. There are many like him even in other streams who, despite their efforts, are shocked when presented with their mark sheets. Moreover, it is interesting to note that the same students who score inferior marks under TU’s marking system do well in other universities, indicating something amiss with TU.

"Imagine we get such low scores in Nepal and we get even A plus here in US," says Avigya Karki, a student currently studying in Maryland, USA who graduated from Tri Chandra (TC) College - the country’s oldest college that was established even before TU came into existence. TC College is presently running under TU.

"The teachers in Nepal get perverse pleasure out of not giving good grades...I believe they try to show that they are so great and the students are fools," he adds.

Besides that, another reason is that the teachers evaluating the papers expect students to cram everything and regurgitate what they say, says Nabin Rawal, a MA first year student in TU.

"The evaluation is often subjective and we don’t get good marks...Humanities students are the worst victims," he adds.

Badri Nath Shrestha, TU’s Controller of Examinations, categorically denies the allegations.

"There are even students who have scored up to 89 per cent depending on their streams," he says. "It is students who don’t work hard enough who complain...there are many who are holding down jobs and not taking their studies seriously enough."

However, there are many students who do not easily agree to Shrestha’s comment.

"In a three year course, what difference does 80 plus per cent in a single exam make when the aggregate percentage drops drastically," says Bikram Gopal Shrestha of Campion College, this year’s University topper in BBS who passed with distinction in his final year.

"We can’t trust the system to retotal your marks...I have even heard that students bribe officials to increase their marks," he adds.

When asked to comment on comebacks such as Bikram’s, Shrestha refused to comment, saying: "We are working to bring about a whole lot of changes to our system on issues ranging from decentralization to examination policies." He refused to comment further citing his busy schedule due to the convocation.

3 years for Nepal’s ‘apple zone’ gets road link

By Moti Pahadi

SURKHET, Nov 22 - In three years time, people of this economically neglected yet natural-resource-rich Karnali zone, also known as an apple zone, will be enjoying the fruits of the long-awaited highway project.

The 220-km long Karnali Highway is expected to be completed within the coming three years, after the World Bank (WB) agreed to finance the highway’s construction. To date, the zone, is deprived of road links to the rest of the Kingdom.

With the view to bring the entire zone into the national development mainstream, a 132-km track line from Surkhet up to the border of Kalikot district has been developed and light vehicles will be able to ply up to 84 km along the highway, according to Ram Naresh Jha, Project Chief of the Surkhet-Jumla Highway.

Construction of the highway was started in the fiscal year 1991/92. However, the slow construction of the road resulted in the wasted time and resources.

The estimated Rs 2.48 billion project is scheduled to be completed in the fiscal year 2002/03. During the fiscal year 2000/01, a contract has already been awarded to a Chinese company for the construction of the 132 km to 149 km section of the road, Jha said.

Project Manager of China Chong Ching Construction, Kang Ko Ling, said that all equipment had been brought to the site for gravelling and reconstructing the highway, which starts at Bange Simal and will continue to a 132-km point. This section of the highway was awarded for Rs 340 million to the Chinese contractor.

Another section of the road, from 132 km to 149 km, has also been awarded at Rs 180 million to 11 local contractors, who are ready to begin construction, Sitaram Karki, accountant of the Karnali Highway project said.

Chief of the highway project, Jha, said, a detailed survey is being carried out for an additional 20 km section (from 149 to 169 km) of the highway under the WB’s RMDP programme.

According to the office of the Surkhet-Jumla Highway project, of the total 24 long bridges and 17 short ones along the 20-km section of the surveyed track, two long bridges have already been built and a short one is under construction.

To date, the government has spent Rs 567 million for the construction of the road.

The office also said that one of the major problem faced by the contractors is the safe storage of explosives, which are required to blow up the hard rocks along the track. A 10-km section of the road in the Kalikot district is littered with rocks, which cannot be removed without the help of explosive devices, the office said.

Of the total 220 km-long Karnali Highway, 46 km lies in Surkhet, 86 km in Dailekh, 63 km in Kalikot and 27 km in Jumla district.

Suspected Maoist killed

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MANMA, Kalikot, Nov 22 - A suspected Maoist rebel was killed instantly and a police constable injured today, in an hour-long gun fight between the police and insurgents at Dhachukot village of Malkot Village Development Committee, police said. The VDC lies about 24 miles west of here.

The dead body of the suspected Maoist rebel is yet to be identified, police said.

Another police constable is reportedly missing since the encounter. The injured police constable, Gunman Singh Rana, has been air-lifted to Nepalgunj for treatment, according to the District Police Office (DPO) in Manma.

The hour-long confrontation took place after the Kotbada-based police force, tipped-off by locals, intervened in a Maoist gathering.

The DPO claimed that police seized a shot-gun, 80 rounds of cartridges, 16 socket-bombs, 7 pressure-cooker bombs, 6 pipe-bombs and 70 metres of fuse-wire from the clash-site.

Finally Dhanusa decides to take on the corrupt officials

Balram Baniya &  Shyam Sundar Sashi

JANAKPUR, Nov 22 - A year after all major development activities in this central Terai town came to a standstill due to charges of rampant corruption, the District Administration Office, Dhanusha, has finally began investigating the municipal officials with a view to take the guilty to court.

The government, last year, had stopped all of the annual funds amounting to Rs. 20 million to Janakpur Municipality after allegations of corruption followed ever since the municipality board was established. The decision was taken immediately after the octroi system was scraped and the municipality was permitted to begin collecting taxes itself.

"We will file cases against the guilty in the appellate court immediately after the investigations are over, possibly by mid-December," says Chief District Officer (CDO) Tana Gautam. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had given the CDO with the authority to investigate such cases in 1991.

The District Administration Office (DAO) is currently investigating the irregularities. Engineer Bramha Jha, accountant Jatadhar Rai and storekeeper Mahabir Shah have already been subpoenaed to present themselves before the court.

Amongst those who have been called for questioning are Mayor Bajrang Shah, Deputy Mayor Kishori Shah and all ward officials. Birendra Jha, who was employed at the tax collectors’ office, absconded immediately after being hauled up for interrogation.

Meanwhile, CDO Gautam has also accused the municipality of not presenting all the necessary documents required for investigating the corruption cases.

Defending the charges, Deputy Mayor Shah says that the municipality has been viewing the DAO’s move as "politically motivated." "Otherwise, we view the investigations being carried out as very positive," he says.

Apart from that, he also claims that the municipality board has been fully cooperating with the investigation being carried out.

"The income we can raise from our own resources is only around Rs. 50,000. Out of which, around Rs. 40,000 is spent on salaries and fuel...what else can we do?" asks Shah.

A recent study conducted by a committee led by the ward chairman Ashok Rauniyar showed that a sum of Rs. 5,174,426 had been misused during the last two years alone. Rauniyar’s committee was formed by the municipality board. However, Mayor Shah also charges Rauniyar’s report as "politically motivated."

Babu Ahmed leads Surya Nepal Masters

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KATHMANDU, Nov 22 - Babu Ahmed of Bangladesh was the surprise leader at the end of the opening round of the Rs. 12 lakh Surya Nepal Masters, which began at the par 72 Gokarna Forest Golf Resort, today.

Ahmed shot a five-under 67 and was leader by two strokes, over 1997 champion Uttam Singh Mundy and last season’s Player of the Year on the Wills Sport Golf Tour Mukesh Kumar who were tied for second place at three-under 69. Local pro Deepak Acharya and Sanjay Kumar of Lucknow were tied for fourth place at two-under 70. The Surya Nepal Masters, which forms the 11th leg of the Wills Sport Indian Golf Tour, is sponsored by Surya Tobacco Company.

Babu Ahmed, who made it to the Indian Tour after finishing 12th in this season’s Q-School tournament, was even par after 11 holes with two birdies and two bogies and a five-under card looked impossible. But the 31-year old pro from Kurmitola Golf Club caught fire on his remaining seven holes. He made an eagle on the third hole (his 12th) after hitting a 6-iron second shot to one feet. He then sank six-footer putts on the fourth, seventh and ninth holes to finish at five-under 67.

"My putting was totally off on the front nine. I was hitting the ball very well and if only I could have putted half as well, I would have finished at least eight-under. Anyway, I am very happy with my round, and hope that I can play steady golf over the next three days and win the first title of my career," said the amiable Ahmed.

Mukesh was in excellent form as he started the day from 10th hole and promptly made a birdie when he sank a 10-footer. Birdies on the 12th and 17th were negated by bogies at the 13th (three-putt from 15 feet) and 15th (from the bunker). He was on song on the back nine with birdies on the first, third, fifth and seventh and was five-under with two holes to go. But on the par-3 eighth, he duffed his 5-iron tee shot and then hit his sandwedge in to the bunker. He came out to within six feet off the cup and two-putted for a double bogey.

"I am very disappointed with the double bogey on the eight. I was playing so well despite having a bad day with my putter. If only I could have made a par, I would have probably sealed the title on the first day itself," said Mukesh, Player of the Year last season.

Mundy, the twice winner of the Honda Siel-Nike PGA Championship, the biggest tournament on the Indian Tour, submitted a three-under 69 card despite three three-putts. He was five-under after 15 holes, but found the water for a bogey on the par-5 seventh hole (his 16th after starting from the 10th tee) and then three-putted for a bogey on the eighth. "Considering that I had three three-putts, I am pretty happy with my score. But the way I finished, is no way to finish a round," said the popular pro from Calcutta.

Among the Nepali pros, club pro Deepak Acharya exploited his familiarity with the course with a brilliant round of two-under 70. The 24-year-old Acharya could have been three-under but missed a simple four-footer birdie putt on his final hole. Beginning from the 10th tee, Acharya made a birdie on the 12th but bogies on the 14th and 15th made him one-over at that stage. A birdie on the 18th where he hit the sandwedge to four feet, saw him make the turn at even-par.

On the back nine, Acharya made a bogey on the fourth hole after leaving his second shot short of the green from a mere 50 yards. But he essayed a brilliant finish with birdies on the fifth, sixth and eight holes. "Considering that I have been playing the first round badly (in Surya Nepal Western and Eastern Open in last two weeks), I would say I am pretty much satisfied with the round," he said.

Scores (after 18 holes) - Babu Ahmed-67, Mukesh Kumar-69, 70-Sanjay Kumar, Deepak Acharya; 71 - Rahul Ganapathy, Shamim Khan, Pappan Zai Kipgen, Radhey Shyam Thapa; 72-Vijay Kumar, Shiv Prakash, Toran Shahi; 73-Ali Sher, Mohd Maqbool; Amateurs : 74-Raj Pradhan; 79-Mani Rai; 80-Bijesh Shahi, CB Bhandari, Deep Basnet, Tashi Ghale. 

‘Empower anti-corruption bodies’

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KATHMANDU, Nov 22 - Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Bishnu Pratap Shah today blamed the government for failing to create conducive environment for the anti-corruption bodies to function effectively.

"We just set up a body and expect it to work. We do not create an environment where the body can really perform," said Shah at a programme organised to discuss the role of constitutional bodies in corruption control.

Referring to the government’s anti-corruption watch-dog, Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Shah said that the government has not made any significant contributions for the authority to control corruption. "It is the job of CIAA to control corruption but it would not be possible given the government’s inability to create the atmosphere," said Shah.

Leelamani Pokharel, United People’s Front MP said that the appointment of CIAA itself was faulty. "The government never thought about empowering CIAA," said Pokharel. "Can the CIAA take the Prime Minister into custody if accused of corruption?"

KP Oli, deputy leader of the main opposition said that unless the civil society becomes aware of corruption and tries to curb corruption and rejects the corrupts the government alone can do nothing. "The constitutional bodies are not successful and cannot be if the civil society is not determined to control corruption," Oli added.

President of Nepal Worker’s and Peasants party, Narayan Man Bijukchchhe held the national parties responsible for the rampant corruption.

‘Gender discrimination’

KATHMANDU, Nov 22 (PR) - Women’s rights activists of South Asian region today said that the women of the region are still victim of social ills like sexual harassment, dowry system and other gender biasedness.

Women’s rights activists participating at "Second annual gender planning network meeting" organised by the Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST) here today said that, inspite of increment in women’s employment opportunities the gender discrimination remains unchanged.

Speaking on the occasion, ISST Director Prof Swapna Mukhopadhyay said,"The house-hold surveys and case studies in Noida and Sonepat, India show that the women workers in industries are discriminated in every regard like earning of wage, spending it and making house-hold decisions."

The findings of the case studies regarding decision making stated that the women don’t have control over their earnings as they hand over their earnings to their families. Women hardly have any say to whom they would like to marry stated the research findings.

Rehana Siddiqui of Pakistan presenting her research findings on certain parts of Pakistan said that only 17 per cent women in the study area make house-hold decisions. On the first day of the three day program, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also presented their research findings. From Nepal, Shiva Sharma will present the research findings on Thursday.