CFG likely to begin with the start of new FY

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KATHMANDU, May 15 : The protracted full-fledged implementation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded Corporate and Financial Governance (CFG) Project is likely to begin with the onset of the fiscal year 2002/03, sources said.

Concerned government offices are presently evaluating the proposals of the short-listed international consulting firms seeking to participate in the project. Four parties were recently short-listed for each of the two CFG components that include Corporate Governance and Capital Markets, and Improving Legal Enforcement Mechanisms and Judicial Capacity.

"The evaluation of the proposals would be completed within the first week of June," said an official. "Once the evaluation of the proposals are completed, the consulting firms would be selected, and then the full-fledged implementation of the project will begin, which is likely to be with the onset of the new fiscal year," said the high level government source.

Companies short-listed for the first component of the CFG project include The Aries Group Ltd., Price Water House Coopers, Arthur Anderson India Pvt. Ltd. and Maxwell Stamp PLC. The other four parties vying for the second component include Checchi and Company Consulting Inc, Ernst and Young, International Development Law Institute and the Asia Foundation and Uniquest Pvt. Ltd.

Once evaluation of the proposals are completed and the project comes into full-fledged implementation, the party selected for the first component would support for institutional strengthening of the Securities Board, mutualisation/privatisation of Nepal Stock Exchange, establishment of Central Depository System and capacity building of Company Registrar’s Office.

Likewise, the second party for the second CFG project component would provide support for the establishment of a National Judicial Academy, Legal Information Centre, Secured Transaction Registry and a Commercial Bench, including the setting up of Dispute Resolution Mechanisms.

The government had reached an agreement with the ADB in December 2000 for the implementation of the US $ 10 million-plus CFG Project. The project is expected to be completed by December 2004.

DCBL discloses financial position

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KATHMANDU, May 15 : After registering for share transactions in secondary market on Tuesday, Development Credit Bank Limited (DCBL) organised a press conference in the capital today to disclose its financial position with an aim to facilitate interested share buyers.

According to the officials of the Bank, the bank has been able to make a deposit collections of Rs 1 billion out of which the investment figures is Rs 700 million. The press release issued on the occasion states that the bank that came into operation on February 1, 2001 has been able to make an operational profit of Rs 23.7 million.

The company with the capital of Rs 160 million had floated its 30 per cent of shares to 23,450 individuals last year.

Price mechanism in the secondary market seems to have ignored the financial health of the institution and we request the share investors to look into the same before going for any investments, Sudhir Khatri, President of the Bank said.

He further said that the current market slowdown has forced the Bank to go for conservative approach thereby focussing on the efficient management of resources rather than seeking more deposits and investment opportunities.

SAARC agriculture ministers meet in preparation for WFS

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KATHMANDU, May 15 : With a view to evolve a common position of the South Asian Bloc in the World Food Summit: five years later (WFS:fyl) scheduled to be held from June 10 to 13 in Rome, the second meeting of the SAARC agriculture ministers was held in the capital on Wednesday.

The agriculture ministers of the region discussed over a draft document on food insecurity that include concern of the entire region on the issue, prepared by His Majesty’s Government of Nepal.

The meeting was organised on the eve of the two-day ministerial meeting that kicks off Thursday as the final sessions of the five-day 26th Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific being held in the capital from last Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, Mahesh Acharya, Minister for Agriculture and Co-operatives (MoAC), Nepal said that the achievement of the region in its campaign against hunger has remained frustrating during the last seven years.

"Domestic policy and resource constraints coupled with the emerging problem in the global trading regime, inadequate flow of fund in the developing world are the reasons behind the failure in achieving the target of reducing the hungry population," he stated.

The achievement of the region, home to over 40 per cent of the 780 million undernourished people in the developing world, has been worse culminating in the shortfall in achieving the target set by the WFS organised in Rome in 1996.

The Rome Declaration, 1996 has targeted to reduce the world’s hungry population standing at 840 million to half by 2015.

Contrary to the target, interestingly, the figure of the hungry population went up in the region during the last seven years.

In Nepal alone the number and proportion of hungry people increased from 3.5 million to 5 million during the period, according to the FAO’s latest report. And this has been attributed to the burgeoning poverty and population growth than food production. As a result, per capita dietary energy supply in Nepal declined to below the sub-regional average.

Similarly, some 11 million people have been added to the undernourished population in India, according to the FAO estimates. Condition of food security is no better in Bangladesh as well.

It is Pakistan and Sri Lanka alone that improved the anti-hunger performance during the period. As a result, the annual reduction required to achieve the target has gone up to 22 million from 20 million instead of going down, according to FAO reports.

"Given the current rate, it would take over 60 years to reduce the hungry population by half and the annual reduction required for the same," assessed Q.A.M.A. Rahim, Secretary General of SAARC, speaking at the meeting. He stressed for making extra efforts through strengthening cooperation among nations of the world to achieve the target.

"The national government and the international community face the challenge only through sustained agriculture growth and improvement of soil fertility, among others," he stated, adding that the same was possible through substantial investment, sharing and optimal utilisation of appropriate technology and developing massive human resource.

Rahim added that the SAARC nations should urge for greater flow of development assistance to the developing countries, significant debt-relief and appropriate reorientation of economic policies of industrialised countries to safeguard the developing countries’ interests during the WFS:fyl.

"Removal of subsidies to agriculture and other impediments created by the developed countries should also be voiced out during the summit," he said.

He also viewed that the respective national governments should take necessary actions for increasing income and generation of employment to increase purchasing power of the vulnerable groups and increase their access to food.

‘Strengthen occupational health and safety’

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LALITPUR, May 15 : Experts and participants in a three-day national training programme have stressed on enhancing productivity and competitiveness by strengthening occupational health and safety measures to withstand the soaring global competitiveness.

Shiva Raj Joshi, State Minister for Labour and Transport, delivering the inaugural speech on Productivity Improvements through Occupational Health and Safety Measures organised jointly by Environment Sector Programme Support and Occupational Safety and Health Project said that government is committed to improve working environment of labour in Nepal. "Government has already taken a number of measures in that direction and is fully committed to take more concrete steps by correcting past shortcomings in the days to come," State Minister Joshi said.

He further said that the government is open to incorporate comprehensive views and suggestions so that greater occupational health and safety can be ensured.

Speaking on the occasion, Lalit Bahadur Thapa, Director General of Department of Labour and Employment Generation highlighted various steps taken by the government in the past to improve the working condition of labours in the factories in Nepal. "The Department has initiated insight inspection to ensure that factories adopt measures related to the safety of labours," he informed.

He, however, said that lack of resources have put constraint on such attempts to fully implement the provisions of Labour Act related with labour interests and sought cooperation from all quarters in materialising government attempts.

Jan Hansen, Chief Technical Advisor of ESPS stressed on the cleaner production approach and underlined the need to enhance occupational health and safety measures to uplift productivity and combativeness. He also highlighted various aspects of training programme and said that such training would be helpful in expanding labour safety approach throughout the country.

Basu Dev Giri, President of Federation of Nepal Cottage and Small Industries (FNCSI) stressed on the effective implementation of safety measures of labours to enhance domestic products’ competitiveness in the international market.

D P Aryal, Democratic Confederation Nepalese Trade Union (DECONT) said that lack of effective monitoring of the government in regards to the implementation of Labour Act has been the prime factor for less than expected achievements in protecting labour right.

Hari Datta Joshi of General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union (GEFONT) said that lack of effective safety measures to the labours cause deaths of around 1.2 million around the world annually due to which countries lose many well-trained human resources resulting in the erosion of competitiveness and productivity.

According to information given at the programme, the three-day training is being participated in by 24 people from five social partners including, DECONT, GEFONT, Nepalese Trade Union Congress (NTUC), Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and FNCSI.

Image Channel to go on air by Dashain

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KATHMANDU, May 15 : Image Channel, a newly licensed metro station, is going to launch its test transmission within four months and making preparations to broadcast its programmes from Dashain.

Speaking at a press meet today, R K Manandhar, Chairman of Image Channel Metro Television, said that the station is making necessary preparations to launch its broadcast by Dashain and test transmission within 4 months.

We also laid the foundation stone of the studio for the metro TV station today and test transmission will begin from 2/3 hours a day and the full-fledged broadcasting will start with 7-hour operation: 3 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening, he added.

We have been producing and telecasting programmes from Nepal Television buying time slot from the state-run TV station for the past four years and by making use of our experiences and expertise, we will try our best to broadcast quality programmes, said Manandhar.

We will focus on cultural heritage, ethnic communities, regional dialects, tradition, literature, music and science and technology while producing and airing programmes.

He also said that 20 per cent of the station’s airtime would be set aside for news, 40 per cent for entertainment programmes and the rest for miscellaneous programmes. he said.

The station is said to have estimated Rs 100 million authorised capital including the already invested and the future investment.