NBL files cases against ex-senior staff

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KATHMANDU, March 9: J Craig McAllister, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) said that the bank has filed cases against its former senior staff who misused their power and were responsible for the downfall of the bank.

"Cases against the people that effected the bank’s downfall was filed on January 28 at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and the Commission has been requested to commencing criminal investigation against them," he said.

McAllister said this at a programme organised on the occasion of the sixth Joint Regional Convention of the Head Office and Kathmandu Banking Office of Nepal Bank Employees Association (NBEA) today.

He also added that the management has undertaken a number of activities to recover the financial position of the bank and to develop it as a leading bank in the country. "However, employees are not aware of these details owing to the confidentiality which the management needs to maintain," he said.

He also noted that the management aims at working together with the employees rather than challenging their trade union rights.

He was referring to the central bank’s stance of not allowing the involvement of the manager level employees in the trade union activities, to which the employees protested arguing that it was against the convention of International Labour Organisation.

"However, if the central bank bars the participation of officers in the trade unions the management will have to abide by the regulation strongly," he added.

Stating that the bank has a good system, a number of good employees and potential to be the leader in the banking industry, he urged the employees to carry out their duty and bear responsibility sincerely.

"The financial position of the bank which has been incurring losses for years cannot be reversed overnight. Overturn is a gradual process and the bank’s employees should be realist and use their common sense prior to criticising the management," he noted.

Speaking on the occasion, office bearers of the NBEA urged the bank’s management to issue a white paper to do away with widespread confusion regarding job security of its employees.

"Rumours on slashing down number of employees, closure of branches and deduction of facilities are widespread. The management should make its perception on these issues clear to create a conducive working environment," they said.

Dhruba Man Pradhan, central President of the NBEA, said that the association would make no compromises on trade union rights, employees’ security and the development of the bank.

He also urged the management not to compel employees to announce retirement. "There are some 1,200 employees serving the bank for 25 years at the lower and higher level. If they are to be laid off, the service delivery would be hit hard," he claimed.

At the same time, he added that the NBEA was ready to negotiate on vacancies and other technical matters if the management feels that staff downsizing is really necessary. Pradhan also requested for the involvement of the trade union in the loan recovery programmes.

"Increased employees’ participation will certainly expedite the recovery programmes and the management should not undermine this fact," Pradhan stressed.

He also said that the latest lending policy implemented by the management is feared to drive away the aspirant borrowers. "If the bank remains adamant on such points how will it earn profit?" he questioned.

Kirtilaba Ananda Joshi of the NBEA requested the management to deal the issue of employees’ transfer from the cost cutting approach. "If an employee seeks to be transferred in the area of his family and home it is not a crime. This in turn might help the management reduce the cost," he said.

Experts blast poor governance
Implementation key to 10th Plan’s success

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KATHMANDU, March 9:Conceding that the country is entrapped in a vicious circle of improper governance, experts today said that there is a need for the state to be pro-active to clean the bureaucratic mess and to ensure that the Tenth Plan is implemented without a fail.

The experts even added that reform is always a painful option, but nonetheless, they stated that civil service needs drastic improvements. They suggested that one way of ensuring better governance is through the de-alienation of public service from political executives.

The experts, including government officials, development partners and entrepreneurs, were speaking at a discussion programme on ‘Economic Management in Tenth Plan’ that was organised by Management Association of Nepal (MAN) in the capital here today.

While some partners to development highlight different aspects of the Tenth Plan, both positive and negative, others stressed on what more is needed to ensure that the targets and objectives set in the latest five year plan are met.

Highlighting the various unique positive features of the Tenth Plan, Finance Minister Dr Badri Prasad Shrestha conceded that there is always a wide gap in plan formulation and implementation.

"The gap is due to lack of linkage between annual and periodic expenditures," Dr Shrestha said, adding that the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), a three-year rolling budgetary plan, has been engineered to bridge any such gap in the case of Tenth Plan.

The finance minister also said that the built-in-flexibility, pre-determined priorities, performance indicators, and monitoring and evaluation is likely to lead to a considerable success in the implementation of the Tenth Plan, unlike the previous ones.

Likewise, Dr Shankar Sharma, Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), said that resting on the success of the first Immediate Action Plan (IAP) prepared and enforced last year, another IAP is being formulated.

Besides, he informed that the NPC is in the process of formulating a Detailed Action Plan for the purpose of the Tenth Plan and is making preparation to carry out a quick survey to assess the delivery of services by the government machinery.

In addition, Chief Secretary Dr Bimal Koirala said that unless public delivery system is improved, the specific and general goals and targets set by the Tenth Plan would become meaningless.

"Governance is a critical area that needs to be immediately improved to ensure that both short and long-term goals set by the government are achieved. Without good governance, proper implementation cannot follow," said Dr Koirala.

Dr Richard Vokes, Country Director of the Asian Development Bank–Nepal Resident Mission, critically examined the Tenth Plan. Though he lauded the participatory manner in which the plan was formulated, he said that certain aspects still need to be looked into.

He said, among others, that enough emphasis has not been laid on how the private sector can help in attaining various specific targets set by the government in the Tenth Plan. However, the plan has in-built flexibility and that is an advantage, he said.

Dr Vokes, like other speakers, added that designing of an effective service delivery system is most important. "And implementation of the plan is still the key," he said.

Siddhartha SJB Rana, Chairman of the Soaltee Group, highlighted the role of the private sector and that of the open market policies in the development of any country. However, he said, "Actually promoting private sector involvement in Nepal’s development is an uphill task."

He also added that incongruity in a number of laws and regulations has dampened the scope of investment in Nepal. "Rationalisation of laws is required if investment is to be attracted. Furthermore, the laws need to be simplified," he said.

Dr Arju Rana Deuba, MAN President, Suresh Raj Sharma, Vice-Chancellor of Kathmandu University, and Dr Bina Pradhan, Gender and Development Specialist, also spoke on the occasion.

Truce brings hopes among tourism entrepreneurs

By Kulchandra Neupane 

POKHARA, March 9:The recent declaration of cease-fire by the government and the Maoist has brought in a sigh of relief to the tourism entrepreneurs across the country. This city, appreciated by all as the most fascinating tourist destination of Nepal, expects a better inflow of tourists in the days to come.

Till two months ago, this sub-metropolitan city in the western Nepal only yearned to welcome more tourists. But now it seems there is some ground to hope that the tourism industry here would revive.

With the onset of the Spring Season, which is a prime season for tourists visiting Pokhara, more tourists are seen strolling around the Lakeside area. And the bookings at the hotels and resorts have gone up. Similarly, the rising number of tourists at the counters of travelling, trekking and mountaineering agents have brought smiles in their faces.

According to Pokhara Regional Office of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), it is quite encouraging that the inflow of tourists has gone up. While the hotels were serving up to only ten per cent of their total capacity before the cease-fire, they are now using over 30 per cent of their total capacity, said HAN sources.

Needless to say, a feeling of fear and insecurity fuelled by frequent incidents of violence in the name of the so-called Maoist revolution has been the major cause for the gradual decline in the number of tourists visiting the country. Not only the foreigners shied away from visiting our country, but also the number of domestic tourists had plunged massively.

"Insecurity had been the major reason for hesitation among the foreign and domestic tourists in visiting our country," said Biplab Poudel, secretary of HAN Pokhara. "The recent truce has shown only a glimpse of the revival of the tourism industry. If the peace process is successful, tourism would surely revive."

Poudel is the proprietor of Barahi Hotel, situated at Lakeside. Till some days ago, not even ten rooms were booked in his 45-room hotel. But this week, 35 rooms are booked every day, informed an elated Poudel.

Sundar Kumar Shrestha, a tourism entrepreneur, is also very excited with the increase in the number of tourists. "Unlike previous years, the tourists have not cancelled their bookings," said Shrestha. "Even the bookings made more than six months ago by email are not yet cancelled, which makes us hopeful of their arrival."

According to Shrestha, more than 60 per cent of tourists visiting Pokhara generally make their hotel-bookings six months before. Last year, more than 40 per cent of bookings were cancelled, mainly due to insecurity. But there are no reports of cancellation of bookings this year, said Shrestha.

Shrestha also said that the campaigning in Internet and other news media that tourists have little reason to fear visiting Nepal after the cease-fire have also been instrumental in attracting more visitors this time.

Other tourism promotion campaigns such as Let’s Go to Pokhara (Jaun Hai Pokhara, trade fairs, sports tournaments and International Music Festival have also been successful in fetching more tourists to Pokhara, according to HAN secretary Poudel.

FNCCI urges for revision in refinancing sick industries

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KATHMANDU, March 9:Private sector has recommended the government to undertake case-to-case study while extending the refinance loans to the sick industries rather than refinancing these under a single basket.

This is important to ensure effectiveness of the sick industry rehabilitation programme that the government has announced, states a paper, which the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) presented to the central bank the last week.

The private sector has stressed that more industries are becoming sick despite the government’s announcement of various measures to rehabilitate them. "Even the industries included in the list of rehabilitation have failed to acquire the soft loans that the government pledged," the paper adds.

Citing higher penal interest and compound interest as reasons behind the poor loan repayment record of the industries, the private sector has also urged the government to waive such interests for the sick industries. The private sector has also requested the government to extend the span of refinance loans to 2 years from existing six months.

"Moreover, current system which allows loans rescheduling only after paying 25 per cent interest should be stopped for 2 years," the FNCCI paper states.

The FNCCI has identified that black listing of industries has badly hit their transactions in some cases and has argued that the central bank should de-list the companies, which can be revived, from the black list.

Likewise, the private sector has raised concern over the higher service charges and spread rate levied by the commercial banks. It has also highlighted that the disparity between the Nepali and the Indian currency against the US dollar has made the import expensive.

"Closure of banks in rural areas and transferring them to district headquarters has affected the banking services in these parts," states the paper and urges for the re-establishment of the banks at their original places.

The private sector has stressed that the traditional approach of the banks has barred the clients from receiving the modern banking services. It has also raised concern over the joint venture banks not providing services to small entrepreneurs.

Also, the commercial banks in bordering markets and districts do not exchange the Indian currency, which has adversely affected the transactions there, the paper highlights.

It further states that the current practice of denying deposit mobilisation, extending small loans and mandatory submission of unnecessary papers should be revoked. The private sector has also urged for the reduction in the minimum account balance from existing amount of Rs 10,000.

The paper was presented at a meeting organised by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). Issues pertaining to banking sector, foreign exchange and rehabilitation of sick industries were discussed during the meeting, which was attended by 50 bankers, private sector representatives and the NRB officials.

QA appoints new Area Manager

KATHMANDU, March 9 (PR) – Qatar Airways (QA) appointed Gyan Amerasinghe as Area Manager-Nepal last week. According to a press release issued here today by the Airways, Amerasinghe was based in the Maldives prior to his appointment as Area Manager for Nepal. "He has 22 years of experience in airline industry and has worked for Sri Lankan Airlines and Emirates. Qatar Airlines that flies 11 flights per week from the Qatari capital of Doha to Kathmandu is extending its flights twice weekly to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur from April 2nd.

Ilam Festival to begin on April 14

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KATHMANDU, March 9:A three-day Ilam Festival is being organised in this eastern district from April 14 with an aim to develop the district as an alternative tourism destination as committed by the government while announcing a two-year tourism promotion programme – Destination Nepal Campaign.

According to the organisers, the festival would be organised throughout the district, irrespective of any particular tourism spot that have high tourism significance. "Including the entry point at Mechi Highway, the festival will be organised at all places of Ilam parallely," organisers said.

"There will be spontaneous programmes throughout the festival period in the places including Pathivara, Kanyam, Antu, Pashupatinagar, Fikkal, Karfok, Godak, Rajduwali, Ilam Bazaar, Maipokhari, Joubari, Tumling and Meghma," said Dharma Kattel, spokesman of the Ilam festival organising committee.

The government last year decided to develop Ilam as a new tourist hub and Barahachhetra as a religious tourism destination for tourism development in the entire eastern development region, under the much-touted Destination Nepal Campaign (DNC).

The government officials then had said that, the main committee of the DNC had endorsed the plan to develop both these places as alternative tourism destinations. The government had then, allotted Rs 500,000 to promote Ilam, from the DNC budget of Rs 280 million. But the amount is yet to be released.

Ilam was aimed at providing thrill to pleasure seekers and the Barahachhetra for the Hindu devotees of Nepal and bordering cities of India. Ilam, a hilly district situated at the eastern development region is at a distance of 18 hour-bus ride from Kathmandu. The district is famous for tea products and also for the high-valued pilgrimage.

Subas Nirola, director at the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) pointed out the need of product diversification for tourism development inside the kingdom. Stressing upon the need of active participation of the local stakeholders, Nirola said that the development of Ilam as a new regional hub would certainly help the ailing tourism industry.

As statistics reveal that more than 40 per cent of tourists coming to Nepal revisit the Himalayan kingdom, the exploration of new destinations are essential, and this effort would certainly boost the tourism industry, say tourism experts. The development of Ilam as the regional tourist hub will not only promote one specific area, but the entire region, they say.

The prime identity of Ilam is its famous tea estates. However, it is also famous for the dazzling sunrise and sunset views from the Sri Antudanda. Ilam is also known for several religious and historically important sites. While Maipokhari and Gajurmukhi are some important religious sites of Ilam, the district falls along the route the famous Pathivara Devi’s temple, situated in Taplejung district. The beautiful Buddhagufa, Hanspokhari and Fikkal are the other scenic attractions. Chulachuli region and Manmulang are known for beautiful landscape.

The organisers expect about 50,000 visitors visit from within the district, nearby Nepali cities and the bordering Indian cities of Darjeeling and Sikkim during the three-day event. "Though there are only 200 hotel beds in the entire district, we have made necessary arrangement for further accommodation," the organisers stated.

Retirees of BJM deprived of gratuity

By Suresh Niraula 

BIRATNAGAR, March 9:The retired employees of Biratnagar Jute Mills (BJM) have been deprived of their gratuity, as the concerned government authority has not released grants to the Mills. The former employees have been staging a sit-in in front of the Mills administration every day demanding their gratuity.

The daily protest of the ex-employees is most likely to create disturbance in the operation of the Mills.

Narayan Nepal, a 60-year-old retiree, who retired from service last February, still awaits gratuity. Nepal, who is suffering from heart disease, laments "I could not get gratuity while retiring. Now I fear that I may die in the absence of treatment as I have no money."

Nepal needs money for a surgical operation of his heart and he has no source of income other than gratuity.

The factory has been facing several ups and downs from the past several years. It was closed for more than a year and resumed operation last December when the Golchha Group undertook its management. With the passing of time the number of retirees has been increasing to touch 196 at present.

As per the management contract, the government would provide grant to the factory, which would be used to pay the gratuity to the retiring workers and other facilities to the workers. Accordingly, it was agreed that the government would release Rs 100 million in two instalments for the current fiscal year.

The government released the first instalment prior to the management take-over by the Golchha Group. The money was spent on paying the three-month-due salary of the workers and Dashain allowance. But the second instalment of Rs 50 million has yet to be released. The factory sources said that the amount has already been set aside by the government a month ago.

The factory management admits that some of the retiring workers are in dire need of money. An estimated Rs 37 million is required to clear their due payment, according to Mahesh Hamal, administrative officer of the factory.

The factory management doubts that the amount has not been released due to some political reason. The decision to provide grant was made by the Deuba-government, which the present government does not seem to appreciate, some of the factory workers say.

Petroleum transporters withdraw strike

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BIRATNAGAR, March 9 : Petroleum transporters here have withdrawn the strike of tankers that they had threatened to stage from Tuesday after Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) agreed to fulfil some of their demands put forward by the Petroleum Transporters’ Association (PTA).

Shiva Prasad Ghimire, Central Vice-President of PTA, said that they have withdrawn their strike scheduled to be staged from Tuesday as the meeting of representatives from NOC, PTA and officials commerce offices decided to fulfil 6 demands of the PTA out of 37.

The association had given a 15-day ultimatum stating that they would organise nation-wide fuel transporters’ strike on Tuesday if their demands were not met.

The PTA’s main demands that the NOC follow the international level of quality standard was accepted during the meeting.

The NOC had taken action against four tankers on charges of adulteration, which provoked the PTA to go on a strike. But in today’s meeting the NOC withdrew the charges on the tankers.

It was also agreed upon today that the NOC would handle the transporters’ route permit for Indian territories and depute its staff to Indian Oil Corporation to inspect filling process of Nepali tankers there.

From now on, any new transport related committee would be represented by Petroleum Transporters’ Association.

According to Ghimire, the meeting also agreed to sit down again and solve the other problems regarding freight charge increment, insurance and fuel standard as soon as possible.

Swiss contact launches Business Connect

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KATHMANDU, March 9 : With an aim to promote business by providing a common platform for suppliers and buyers of services, Business Connect programme was launched on Sunday.

Business Connect forum builds a platform which lets buyers and sellers interact more directly, allowing suppliers open new markets and sell more efficiently and giving buyers opportunity to find the best vendor for a particular product or service.

A first of its kind in Nepal, this programme is facilitated by Small Industries Promotion Programme (SIP-P), a project implemented by Swisscontact on behalf of the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC).

The programme has been introduced in order to fulfil the need of expert manpower in the fields of management, market promotion and financial management both in the small and medium-sized industries, according to Leon Heudret, chief of SME Programme.

"The programme would provide a regular forum for conducting seminars and interactions between the sellers and buyers, apart from other promotional programmes," said Nabin Dahal, programme officer at SIP-P. He also said that this forum would also conduct visiting-cards exchange programme between the service-seekers and service-providers, which would be very helpful in building direct contact between them.

"With this programme, the service-seekers would easily get their requirements fulfilled, which would be instrumental in promoting business," claimed Dahal.

Business Connect will organise talk shows, workshops and interactive meets, publish informational advertisements, press bulletins and newsletters and also facilitate contacts through phone. A web-site and an e-mail service will also be launched where service providers can enlist facilities and potential buyers browse these lists free of cost. Also present will be chat rooms where both parties can interact.

There are also plans to place a service pavilion in the Himalayan Expo 2003. A logo of the programme was also made public today.