IPC, Interkraft submit bids for BPC

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KATHMANDU, Dec5 - With the expiry of the once extended deadline Wednesday for the third tender call for the privatisation of 75 per cent shares of Butwal Power Company (BPC), only Interkraft (AAS) and Independent Power Corporation (IPC-Nepal) have submitted their bids, bringing the same old rivals back once again into the battle ground.

Responding to the third tender call for the privatisation of the BPC, six companies, including Interkraft (AAS), a consortium of Joyti Group along with other Nepali investors and Norwegian Power Developer, and IPC Nepal, another rivalry consortium led by Choudhary Group in participation of IPC - an American British Power Developer, had obtained application froms.

According to an official at the Privatization Cell of Ministry of Finance, the technical bid of the bidders, as announced in the tender call notice, would have been opened on Thursday. However, as per the changed modality, only the technical bid of IPC-Nepal would be evaluated tomorrow.

In the tender call notice, it was stated that the company whose technical bid was approved during the last round of bidding would not need to submit another technical bid and would be allowed to participate directly on the financial bidding.

During the second round of bidding, the technical bid of the Choudhary group was cancelled on technical grounds, thereby, barring it from competing in the financial bidding. Interkraft had remained alone at the financial bidding

After two rounds of failed-attempt to hand-over BPC to the private hands, the government this time had changed some modalities and procedures of the tender call to make the whole privatization process more transparent and to correct the past mistakes. Unlike, the past tender calls, the bidding parties were asked to submit both the technical and financial bids together, albeit in separate envelopes.

Like the past procedures, the bidding companies will be allowed to participate in the financial bidding only after the technical bidding of the companies are passed by a committee.

As per the plan, the technical bids of the competing parties would be opened on the next day of expiry of the deadline to submit the tenders and it would be thoroughly examined by a technical committee headed by the Secretary at the Ministry for Water Resources. The committee than will submit its report to the Finance Minister who will then form another committee to evaluate the financial bids of the vying companies.

Earlier, the meeting of the privatization committee held on September 10 had decided to cancel all second round of privatization process on the grounds that there were some serious technical mistakes in the financial bid submitted by the Interkraft, a Norwegian power developer along with its Nepali partners. Interkraft, in its financial bid had quoted Rs 735 million for the purchase of the shares of the BPC.

The government in December 1999 had, amid mounting controversies, scrapped the first call of the privatization process only to recall the second round of tenders on September 2000. The first call was cancelled following the revocation of the bid by IPC alleging the Minister of Finance of favoring Interkraft, the only rival of IPC.

The three and half year old privatization process has bleached the government’s commitments towards speeding the privatization of the state-owned enterprises, an important part of the financial sector reforms. This slow-pace privatization process has also irritated the donor agencies and some of them have even openly said that the future financial assistance to Nepal can be affected if the government fails to accelerate the privatization process.

Workshop on knowledge management held

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KATHMANDU, Dec 5 – Participants at a workshop on Knowledge Management today said that rapid globalisation and swift revolution in the field of Information Technology has posed new challenges to people working in diverse sectors.

The thrust of the workshop was to seek out ways by which the competitiveness of both profit-making and non-profit organisations could be increased by investing into systems that will ensure timely decisions and faster product delivery.

Speaking at the workshop, Jim Tomecko, GTZ Team Leader, Private Sector Promotion Programme, said that harnessing knowledge and putting it to work so that businesses and organisations can save costs, increase turnover, add value or improve return to capital is essential to influencing the viability of any organisation. "Knowledge is quickly becoming the currency of exchange in this new economy," he said.

"A small country like Nepal cannot afford to remain complacent when it comes to services. Nepal has little comparative advantage in manufacturing, its future lies in service enterprises," he added.

On the same occasion, B K Shrestha, President of Nepal-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NGCCI), said, "In this new era of business, it is important for us to see what are the resources available and more importantly to harness those resources that
provide with the required competitive edge."

Similarly, Mahendra Krishna Shrestha, NGCCI Secretary General, said that as businesses become increasingly globalised, organisations have to make smarter strategic decisions, maximise operational efficiencies, and take advantage of technological advancements.

Two management experts presented papers at the workshop that was organised jointly by NGCCI and GTZ.

NTC transformation sluggish

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KATHMANDU, Dec 5 - Over 11 months have passed since the process of transforming the Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC), a state-owned monopoly in the telecom services, into a company began, but no headway has been made so far.

The government took the decision to transform the corporation into a company as per the government’s policy of opening up the telecom services to the private sector with a view to rendering the services more competitive and efficient.

Whilst the slow pace of privatization process of the corporation has made it very difficult for the corporation to enhance its competitiveness, the sluggish progress shows the government’s indifference in carrying out its duties.

The cabinet took the decision to transform the NTC into a company in January 2001. However, lack of mutual consensus among the concerned ministries and departments have marred its progress. The management and the emplo1yees of the corporation have been demanding quick decision on the matter.

According to Pralad Pokhrel, Chief of the Department of Policies, Plans, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Information and Communications, which plays a major role in turning the corporation into a company, drafts of prospectus and regulations are being finalized.

The Ministry of Information and Communications, Office of the Company Registrar, Office of the Auditor General, Citizen Investment Trust, Department of Information, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and Finance Ministry are named as promoters of the would-be company. Final round of discussion among the promoters is still pending, said Pokhrel.

General Manager of NTC Raghubar Lal Shrestha said that two/three rounds of talks on the issue have already been held but all of them ended inconclusively, further creating confusion among the employees of the corporation.

As Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) is opening up various telecom services to the private sector, it is imperative for the corporation to take quick decision in order to compete with the private sector. Therefore, the corporation needs to be transformed into a company as soon as possible, said Shrestha.

One of the reasons that has protracted the privatisation progress is the lengthy procedures involved. Furthermore, the provision of appointing high-level officials of the ministries like Finance and Information and Communications as board members, who are almost always busy and cannot find out time to take decision on matters has further complicated and delayed the transformation process.

The NTA has already opened the cellular mobile phone and the basic phone based on wireless on local loop, (WLL) technology, breaking the monopoly of the corporation, but the private operators have yet to operate their services. Once they set in with their services, NTC will most likely get edged out of the telecoms market in terms of competitiveness.

Chaturbedi assumes RNAC office

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KATHMANDU, Dec 5 – Ramagya Chaturbedi, the newly appointed Executive Chairman of the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) assumed office here today.

According to a press release issued by the RNAC, Chaturvedi was earlier an executive officer of the Nepal Oil Corporation and the Director General of National Construction Company.

The RNAC runs seven international flights with its two Boeing757s and 26 domestic flights with its 6 twin otter aircraft, the release says.