PPA between hydel projects and NEA under review

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 7 - The government has started the process of reviewing Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between the Khimti and Bhote Koshi hydro-power projects and Nepal Electricity Authority.

NEA has been demanding a review of PPA. The Finance Committee of the House of Representatives had concluded that the purchase rate was high and directed the government to review the terms and conditions of the agreements with the two projects.

Khimti-1 (60 MW) is a joint venture between NEA and Nordic Development Fund (Finland) and the 36 MW Upper Bhotekoshi is a similar venture between the NEA and the Americans, with both the foreign investors totalling 86 percent each.

"The Ministry (of Water Resources) is studying the agreements for their review," said Bishwa Nath Sapkota, Secretary at MoWR.

The cost of power per unit from the two projects, signed under "take or pay" principle, is 7 cents approximately five rupees. Even if the NEA cannot utilize the power from the these two, it sill has to buy it in American dollars.

Sapkota was speaking at a programme to mark the 15th anniversary of Nepal Electricity Authority today.

Sapkota said that power tariff "is too high and Nepali consumers have tough time in bearing the heavy burden of such an exorbitant rate."

"Both the NEA and Department of Water Resources Development have jointly started evaluating the costs involved and the dollar exchange rate," Prachar Mansingh Pradhan, Planning Chief, NEA told The Kathmandu Post. "The agreements have provisions for reviewing them in good faith."

"We are preparing a new policy on electricity," said Ram Bahadur Gurung, Minister of State for Water Resources. "Nepal, capable of producing 83 thousand MW of power, is hardly able to generate 400 MW."

Meanwhile, speaking on the occasion, three union leaders took both the NEA management and its Board of Directors to task. Representing three different unions, the three - Bal K. Shrestha, Bijay Chaudhary and Chandra Prakash Ghimire - demanded immediate work be given to eight top officials of the NEA whose had earlier been sacked by the Board.

The eight - four deputy managing directors and four directors in chief - were relived of their job by a decision of the Board in the first week of January this year. The decision was overturned by a Supreme Court order on July 3, directing the Board to reinstate the officials.

"NEA management is not serious in preventing revenue leakage," said Shrestha. He cited the case of Ashok Steel Industry as an example. This company owes the Authority Rs 38.3 million. The company appealed to Supreme Court which was rejected and directed NEA to collect the amount. "Surprisingly, the NEA has referred the matter to a re-evaluation committee."

Giving a reason of "unjustified" high electricity tariff, Bijay Chaudhary said, "We have to pay hefty interest on foreign loan. The interest on the loan for Kaligandaki-A hydroelectric project alone stands at four billion rupees annually." Instead of looking for better alternatives, the Board and NEA top brass were always looking for such loans, added Chaudhary.

Earlier, Secretary Sapkota had criticised the union leaders’ demand for allowances, stopped by the government, and the "growing overtime culture of the employees". "The situation is such that employees have come to expect salary merely on the basis of attendance and allowance for their work." Sapkota also said that there was growing tendency among union leaders not to work.

PM attends Millennium Summit

KATHMANDU, Sept 7 (RSS) - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala attended the inaugural session of the Millennium Summit of the United Nations at the United Nations headquarters in New York Wednesday morning.

The Prime Minister joined the heads of state and government at a luncheon hosted by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Wednesday afternoon, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Earlier, he gave a live interview at CNN. He fielded questions from different listeners.

Earlier, Prime Minister Koirala had a meeting with Chairman of the Council of Minister of Bhutan Lyompo Yeshey Zimba.

Matters of bilateral interests, including Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and need for greater economic interaction between the two countries, were discussed during the meeting.

Murari Raj Sharma, permanent representative of Nepal to the United Nations, Damodar Prasad Gautam, Royal Nepalese Ambassador to the USA, Hari Sharma, the principal secretary to the Prime Minister, Narayan Shumsher Thapa, foreign secretary, were present on the occasion.

In the afternoon, Prime Minister Koirala met with Juan Samovia, Director General of International Labour Organization.

Matters of interests to Nepal and ILO, including the issue of elimination of the worst form of child labour, were discussed during the meeting.

Foreign Secretary Murari Raj Sharma, Hari Sharma, and senior officials of the Foreign Ministry and the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations were present during the meeting.

At the sidelines of the summit, Prime Minister Koirala also met His Majesty King Abdullah Ii Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, His Highness Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz A Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard of Saudi Arabia, President Joseph Estrada of the Philippiness and the Prime Minister of Nauru.

Coureous exchanges were made during those brief meetings.

Govt’s fertilizer supply policy not in favour of state corporation

By Sudeep Shrestha

KATHMANDU, Sept 7 - ‘Fertilizer Supply Plan for Summer Crops 2057’ is the latest testimony of foul play by high level government officials by pushing the state-owned enterprises into financial doldrums.

Government on April 17 directed Agriculture Inputs Corporation (AIC) to sell chemical fertilizers in the hilly and remote areas, where demand for fertilizer is minimal, before selling them in other areas where its demand is high. The Plan also allowed the private parties to deal in fertilizers in several districts where demand is high.

The decision is controversial as the AIC currently does not have enough stock to fulfill the total estimated demand in the mountainous region, and which it has to transfer its stock from the Terai districts to meet the demand.

"The decision would definitely benefit the private fertilizer importers, who may sell the fertilizers in areas with high demand at inflated prices," says an AIC official.

Even more interesting is the fact that most of the districts with high fertilizer demand, where private parties are allowed to operate, do not have fertilizers in stock.

Their stock is concentrated only in Biratnagar, Birgunj and Bhairahawa, which means that they have to supply fertilizers to other districts from these three bases. This would naturally increase the price of fertilizers, which will hit hard on the poor farmers.

The distribution pattern that the government has sketched in the Plan overtly limits the role of AIC. For instance, the government has directed AIC to supply a meager 152 and 355 tons of urea to Bhojpur and Taplejung districts respectively in the Eastern Development Region.

However, in other parts of the region, the government has granted maximum privilege to the private sector where demand for urea stands as high as 1160 tons in Jhapa, 2150 tons in Morang, 2550 tons in Saptari, 1850 tons in Siraha and 2000 tons in Sunsari.

The overall Plan, which was also objected by the AIC, only shows the laxity of officers involved in formulating the Plan. The supply of fertilizers to remote areas with low demand and high costs of transportation, without letting AIC to sell in areas of high demand simultaneously would increase the losses of AIC thereby pulling down its financial viability.

"Transportation of fertilizers in the remote areas is no doubt the responsibility of AIC for which AIC gets transportation subsidy. However, it makes no sense why the government is not wanting to allow AIC to simultaneously allow fertilizer sale in Terai regions," laments an officials with AIC.

The decision is against the interests of AIC and was taken in favor of the private parties. It was taken even without inviting AIC in the meeting, the official adds.

He also informed that AIC has sent a written complaint to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) protesting against the decision, but is yet to receive a reply.

Show cause notice to Home Ministry

KATHMANDU, Sept 7 (PR)- The Appellate Court Lalitpur, today issued a show cause notice against Home Ministry officials, and ordered them to refrain from hampering day to day works at Miteri hospital in the capital where two suspected Maoist rebels are receiving medical treatment.

Issuing the order today, a single bench court of Justice Bodhi Raj Pandey directed the Home Minister, Home Secretary, and Kathmandu’s District Administration Office and District Police Office to present themselves at the Court within 15 days. They have been asked to furnish appropriate reasons that authorized them to walk into the hospital premises on the night of September 2.

The show cause notice was issued after the hospital’s Medical Director Dr Birendra Jhapali lodged a petition seeking injunction against the authorities who intruded the hospital premises without the hospital management’s permission.

Kathmandu District Police Office has stationed its personnel in the hospital to keep vigil on the activities of the two wounded Maoist activists--Ranjan K.C and Srijana Phuyal--who are receiving treatment there since August 31.

Dr Jha has mentioned in his petition that the police "sneaked into the hospital’s sensitive wards on the night of September 2 without following the hospital’s rules and regulations, and are misbehaving with the hospital staff and patients".

Nepal looks back at its illiteracy

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 7 - When the world is celebrating International Literacy Day on September 8, literacy specialists in Nepal are busy reviewing the dismal literacy situation of the country.

Issued on the occasion of the global literacy day, UNESCO report-2000 states, "an increasing number of additional illiterates in the near future will be accounted for mainly by South Asian countries where half of the adult population is illiterate."

According to the report, the literacy rate of Nepal is 32.8 percent which is below the rate of other South Asia region with the literacy rate of India - 52 percent, Bangladesh- 37.7 percent, Maldives- 95.2 percent, Pakistan- 39.4 percent and Sri Lanka with 94.2 percent.

However, a survey carried out by National Planning Commission (NPC) and Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in 37 districts about three years back shows the country’s literacy rate is 53 percent with 68 percent male literacy and 38 percent female literacy. However, it is the difference in the calculation procedure. While assessing literacy data, Nepal considers only the children above six years of age whereas UNESCO takes only 15 plus.

The Ninth five year plan explicitly targets to increase literacy rate (remember six year plus) to 70 percent. But when the Ninth Plan has already completed three years of operation, it is a virtually impossible target.

"With the present rate, it is impossible to achieve the target of 70 percent," says Dr Hridaya Ratna Bajracharya, Executive Director at Centre for Educational Research, Innovation and Development (CERID).

But Satya Bahadur Shrestha, Chief of Informal Education Centre says achieving the target is still possible if literacy programme would be taken as a national campaign with proper coordination and timely monitoring.

"Government has to increase the budget allocation into this sector and number of manpower should be increased," says Shrestha.

"There is a need to link literacy with different developmental aspects like health, forestry, legal and human rights, micro finance and improved livelihood," says Chij Kaji Shrestha, Vice-President of Asia Field Coordinator at World Education.

"The present structure of the Non-formal Education Centre is inadequate and the government needs to activate them," says advocate Sandhya Basnet.

"Donors have invested a huge amount of money concerning literacy programmes, but little is known about the effects of those investment," commented Dr Kevin Lellis, Senior Education Advisor at DFID, adding, "little attention has been directed to the lessons learned."

"The approach to literacy should be something that is used in the community based on exploration of people’s real uses rather than something to be learnt in the literacy class," says Roshan Chitrakar, project coordinator of CLPN, an INGO.

1/3 houses in KMC illegal

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, Sept 7 - One third of the total mushrooming buildings in the capital city are illegal as they are not approved by the municipality. Kathmandu Municipal Corporation (KMC) claims that even among the two third of the buildings under-construction that have acquired formal approval, many have not followed the exact blue print they have registered with the office.

According to Devendra Dangol, a senior municipal engineer, only about 3100 applications have registered planned map in his office, whereas once third of that number start construction without bothering to follow any official procedure.

Even the houses with proper authorization do not care to amend their maps if they wish to add a room or two here or there. The officials add that a few daring ones even add a storey or two more than stipulated in their original maps.

"Majority of the houses built in the city are in contrary to the blue prints they produce to acquire permission for the building from the metropolis office," claims Ganesh Dhoj GC, legal officer in Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC).

GC considers the trend as a negligence fuelled due to lack of stern action against the defaulters. However, despite being aware of illegal constructions, KMC’s hands are legally bound. They can do nothing until any affected party lodges a complain. Though the number of such complains are meagre, "the complains on unauthorised construction occupy over 75 percent of all sorts of complains together," he added.

KMC’s actions are always prompted by the complains made by defaulters’ neighbours. However, the legal procedure is so clumsy and time consuming that any building or structure completes by the time even when a decree to halt the construction is issued.

KMC’s office has now stacks of such default cases which are either not pursued or not solved. There are cases since the last one decade languishing in old files of the office. Not only KMC, Kathmandu Valley Town Development Implementation Committee (KVTDIC) also has the authority to drag the wrongdoers to the court, halt construction works and even demolish illegal structures. The similar rights to two different organizations is also making the issue "everybody’s responsibility" and being neglected in many cases by the both parties.

"Unless the contradictory acts are amended or a coordination method is developed, we can’t completely change this ugly cityscape." says Suresh P Acharya, town controller of KVTDIC. Coordinator of Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme Padma Sundar Joshi said the problem lies in the policy. "Instead of dividing the valley into more sectors and thus dividing authorities, the whole valley should be united and the government should devise a grand plan for better housing policies," he said.

However, there is a light in the tunnel. Days are coming when buildings will be made only under a widely planned ‘Building Codes’. Deputy Director General of Urban Development and Building Works Purna Kadariya said discussion with Ministry for Law to implement the ‘Building Codes’ developed in 1994 under UNDP’s assistance is about to complete. "Regulating the urban housing is a long process and it needs different components like electricity, drinking water, drainage telephone etc. Now, building code is being implemented shortly which will regulate the buildings at affordable expense," he says.

When forced to swap their books for guns...

By Balram Baniya

KALILKOT, Sept 7 - Pankha Bahadur Malla, 16, and Baliraj Karki, 17, were returning home from school on a warm May day when they were forced by Maoist rebels to join them in the jungles and swap their books for guns.

The two boys who escaped from the rebel hide outs have now taken refuse with the police. Their third friend identified as Dhan Bahadur Chaulagai, 17, was not so lucky and are still serving the rebels.

"Poor Dhane ... he probably is still being forced to serve as a guard for the rebels," the two boys told The Kathmandu Post.

They said they were forcibly taken to attend a gathering of students and when they tried to return after the program, the rebels refused to let them go.

"Instead they took us into the jungle and trained us to use arms, detonate grenades and attack and were positioned with a team of 26," they said adding that two other boys aged 13 and 15 were also in the team.

Like most of the guerilla wars being fought in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the Maoists insurgents of Nepal too use children under the age of 18 in their violent campaign for a republic state.

Though the rebels have repeatedly denied allegations of use of children in their force, there are many adolescents like Malla and Karki who have been either forced or lured to join the rebel force.

And there are many of them who have either escaped the rebels or were rescued by the police and are now living in the district headquarters with fears in their minds about the rebels and the life in the jungles.

Malla said they tried to persuade the rebels leaders to free them so they could take up their exams, however, the rebel leaders just hushed them and told them education would get them no where.

The two managed to escape after the guards who were assigned to keep an eye on them fell asleep while the team were visiting a local fair. They then took refuse in a cave for two days and hid in their village until a police team rescued them and took them to safety. The rebels reacted by beating up the guardians and family members of the two.

It is just not the boys but also girls who have been forced to join the rebels and serve them. Meena Shahi, 15, who was visiting relatives during vacation from her school in India too had to serve for a fortnight.

"They took me saying there was a gathering of women for just two hours but would not let me return," she said. Meena escaped after dodging the team while on a field trip.

Though claims vary, some of the rebels who have surrendered to the police say as many as half the Maoist force are under aged.

‘Amend local autonomy laws to enhance efficiency’

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 7 - The government should make amendments in the local autonomy act and regulation so as to make local bodies more efficient in the years to come, representatives of District Development Committees (DDCs) and officials said at a meeting here today.

Making recommendations at a Decentralization Review Workshop here today, some DDC representatives also stressed that it is high time the government reviewed the political division of the country by taking into account the geographical and population factors.

The DDC representatives noted that some provisions in the Local Autonomy Act and Local Autonomy Regulation-1998 contradicted with the country’s 23 different laws, and hence they should be reviewed at the earliest.

District Development Committee (DDC) heads, government officials and representatives of various donor agencies had converged at the workshop to discuss issues surrounding decentralization in the country.

"In certain wards of a VDC there are only two houses with a total of ten people, and in some districts there are only a few hundred people," said Jiwan Shahi, District Development Committee (DDC) Chairman of impoverished Humla district, pointing out the need to review the country’s political or administrative division.

Introduction of the watershed laws two years ago marked the beginning of the era of decentralization in the country whose 75 districts have a total of 3,913 Village Development Committees (VDCs) and 58 municipalities. Apart from this, Nepal’s 14 zones are divided into five development regions.

National Planning Commission (NPC) member Dr Jagadish Chandra Pokharel said that the meeting was part of a series of similar consultations and that it was organized to discuss a study report detailing the pros and cons of decentralization exercise.

Representatives from the District Development Committee Federation of Nepal, U.N’s Development Programme, Department for International Development (UK), Danish development agency DANIDA, Swiss Development Corporation, and German development agency also participated in the day-long meeting.

Declining resources worries local bodies

NEPALGUNJ, Sept 7 (PR)- At a time when the government is looking for ways of strengthening the financial resources of the local bodies, elected representatives from the Maoist-hit mid-western region are worried about the ever declining state of their local resources.

Elected representatives of the region highlighted their concerns over the state of violence at a regional seminar jointly organised here by the Ministry of Local Development and Local Bodies Fiscal Commission so as to collect suggestions on income and expenditure as well as accounts-keeping system.

"Main source of our income largely depends on the tax to be levied on herbal exports but this business has sharply declined owing to the Maoist movement," said Darja Bahadur Bham, Vice-Chairman of Mugu District Development Committee.

Besides, the Maoists have warned the VDC secretaries not to realise land revenue taxes from all 24 VDCs, said DDC Vice-Chairman Bham. "How can those VDCs generate additional resources under this circumstances?"

A participant at the seminar said requesting anonymity, "We, the local people’s representatives, are forced to hand over the development budget set aside to the Maoists, who carry out the works we ask them to do."

The government has by law given the local bodies the right to mobilise local resources for their sustenance. The local bodies, however, are not satisfied with the rights granted to them. Dormani Poudel, chairperson of Nepal Municipality Association and member of Local Bodies Fiscal Commission, said, "The Act and its regulations contradict each other regarding the right on fixing taxes at local level."

Sudarshan Sharma, secretary of Libang VDC, Rolpa, one of the Maoists stronghold district, said land revenue tax has not been realised even from the district headquarters. Sharma said only 26 per cent of the people have paid land revenue tax this fiscal year. Libang is the only secured VDC from the Maoist insurgents who have controlled over the rest of the 50 VDCs of the district, Secretary Sharma said.

The five-year-old People’s War waged by the Maoist insurgents has claimed some 75 per cent of lives only from the mid-Western region out of the total death toll across the country. According to police, a total of 728 Maoist insurgents, 140 police personnel and 136 ordinary people have already lost their lives in the past five years.