Kathmandu, July 26 (RSS):Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has said that his wish is that parents should give their property to their sons or daughters according to their own wishes.

The Prime Minister made this remark at the inauguration of a three day workshop seminar on gender equality organised today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the seminar coordination task force of the parliament.

Men and women are the two wheels of the same chariot, the nation can't move ahead if one of them is not developed, he recalled his mother's saying and made it clear that he has no suspicion or confusion over giving women their rights and he will never disappoint the women folk.

The Prime Minister said the women who have run independent economic activities in society have not been compelled to live under the pressure of men and expressed the view that they should move ahead by developing their educational and economic status.

Speaker Taranath Ranabhat said it is positive that parents should provide their property as per their wishes.

He pointed out that no bill is complete in itself just by being passed by the parliament or by having the Royal seal affixed and added that the bill to provide equal rights to sons and daughters now under consideration in the parliament will certainly be finalised but pointed out the need to give attention to its practical aspects.

Leader of the main opposition in parliament Madhav Kumar Nepal said things wished by the Prime Minister who is also the ruling party president should be implemented in society, adding that the CPN-UML also is in favour of providing property rights to sons and daughters as per the wishes of the parents.

He said this will be a historic, revolutionary and important step and it seems there is no need to look around and wait.

Chitra Bahadur K.C. of Rastriya Janmorcha said there will be no equality in society unless daughters are given equal property rights as sons adding that the wishes of the parents amount to not giving rights to the daughter.

Lila Mani Pokhrel of the Samyukta Janmorcha said the right to property as per the wishes of the parents is suitable only where there is economic prosperity and adequate opportunities for employment, adding that the women should be guaranteed equal rights in law in a male dominated society such as ours.

Sitanandan Raya of the CPN-ML expressed the view that daughters will not get their rights if the provisions are made for parents' wishes without talking of equal rights as legal obligations.

Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani of the RPP said it is a challenge to formulate laws as well as to implement the existing laws for gender equality.

Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav of Nepal Sadbhawana Party said special attention should be given on the terai region while talking about equal property rights as marriages across the border take place in the Terai.

Assistant Resident Represen-tative of UNDP Saraswothi Menon said there is a lot to do for the rights of the women in Nepal which is the only country where the average life expectancy of women who constitute more than half the population is lower than that of males.

At the programme presided over by the chairman of the Social Justice Committee of the National Assembly Jiwan Prem Shrestha, various other speakers including MPs Tek Bahadur Chokhal and Parashu Ram Meghi Gurung also expressed their views.

Lalitpur, July 26 (RSS):Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development Ram Chandra Poudel has said that as the present age is that of democracy and socialism it is not desirable to discriminate between any citizens on the basis of casteism and untouchability.

Speaking at a seminar on `The participation of the Dalit community in nation building: the need of the day', organised by the Upechhit, Utpidit Ra Dalit Barga Utthan Bikas Samiti, he said the Nepali Congress is the first party to raise a voice for the elimination of casteism in Nepal.

On the occasion Deputy Prime Minister Poudel said as the Dalit community has an equal role to play in national building, HMG is always alert about the elimination of untouchability from society.

Minister for Local Development Suresh Malla said we should move ahead on the basis of unity regardless of the caste divisions.

MPs Ratna Bahadur Biswokarma, Bijul Kumar Biswokarma, Shanta Manavi and Lal Bahadur Biswokarma stressed the need for the government to take initiative for removing untouchability and discrimination and to allocate a budget for the Samiti and to make arrangements for the representation of the Dalits in the economic, social and educational sectors.

At the programme, Dr. Hari Bansha Jha, Prof. Dr. Bidya Nath Koirala and Gobardhan Rana presented working papers on the present status of the Dalits, political participation and role of the political parties in the elimination of caste system.

The function was presided over by vice chairman of the Samiti Ganesh Bahadur Pariyar.150 persons participated in the seminar from various organisations.

Kathmandu, July 26 (RSS): A delegation led by CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal met Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala at the latter's office in Singha Durbar today to present suggestions as to what kinds of issues Nepal should raise during the Prime Minister's forthcoming visit to India.

The delegation included among others MP K.P. Sharma Oli.

Likewise, RPP president and ex-prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa met Prime Minister Koirala today to present his party's view on the Prime Minister's forthcoming visit to India.

Also today, a delegation led by CPN-ML president Mrs Sahana Pradhan met the Prime Minister to present the party's suggestions regarding the issues Nepal should take up with India.

Likewise, officials of the House of Representatives Foreign Relations and Human Rights Committee, office bearers of Nepal Sadbhavana Party, Rastriya Janamorcha, Samyukta Jana Morcha, and Nepal Workers and Peasants Party met the Prime Minister separately Tuesday to present their suggestions.

Kathmandu, July 26 (RSS):A bilateral discussion was held between the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Canadian Human Rights Commission at the NHRC meeting hall at Pulchok today.

NHRC chairman Nayan Bahadur Khatri and members Dr Gauri Shankar Lal Das, Kapil Shrestha and Ms. Indira Rana took part in the discussion.

Kathmandu, July 26 (RSS):At the outset of the meeting of the National Assembly today, whip of the CPN-UML sought time from chairman Dr. Mohammad Mohsin and thanked the government for making the documents of agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) available.

As some of the points in the documents seemed impractical and not in the interest of Nepal, discussions should be held on it, he said and called upon the speaker to make arrangement for discussion on it.

Dev Raj Ghimire, also of the CPN-UML, said that ten persons were selected and six others listed as alternate candidates in the examination taken by the Ministry of Local Development in Bhadra, 2055 B.S. in accordance with the rules and regualtions of the Public Services Commission (PSC) and arrangement should be made for the appointment of the selected ones.

Ram Chandra Bhattarai of the same party said that the precedence of opposition parties stalling the proceedings of the House seeking various government documents should be ended and drew the attention of the concerned minister for further clarifications on electricity tariff.

Arvinda Thakur of the Nepali Congresss said that the government should make provision for health workers in the districts.

Bachaspati Devkota of the CPN-UML objected the indifference of the government towards the amendment proposal presented by his party in the water supply corporation act when it was in the form of bill.

During the Zero Hour, Shukra Raj Sharma of the Nepali Congress wished eternal peace to the departed souls of Surya Prasad Baral and Pavitra Baral who perished in the house collapse at Pokhara Sub-Municipal Corporation Ward No. 7 and demanded arrangement for medical treatment of the injured and relief to the sufferers.

Kathmandu, July 26 (RSS):During Special Time at the National Assembly today, MPs drew the attention of the government to the current issues such as the forthcoming visit of the Prime Minister to India, citizenship problems and women bill.

Leader of the main opposition party Yuvaraj Gyawali, who was the first speaker, pointed out the need for the Prime Minister to further enhance the national self-respect during his visit to India and said that his party was of the view that the Indo-Nepal Treaty of 1950 should be reviewed and replaced and there should be long-term perspective on the border. Indian army should be removed from Kalapani, Nepal should be able to sign national and international treaties and agreements concerning security, and identity card system should be introduced in the border areas, he added.

Gajendra Narayan Singh of Nepal Sadbhavana Party said that at a time when four million people of the Terai had not received citizenship, the decision taken by the Home Ministry secretaries of Nepal and India in connection with the border would affect the people of the Terai region.

Thammaya Thapa of the CPN-UML said it is regrettable that Women's Rights Bill has not been introduced even when the eighteenth session is about to conclude.

Kathmandu, July 26 (RSS):A delegation of the central working committee of the Federation of Nepalese Jouranalists (FNJ) met Minister for Information and Communications Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta today to discuss matters concerning the implementation of the federation's demands.

As per the federation's demand FNJ and the government have, in course of the discussion, agreed to change the existing policy of providing government grant to newspapers in the form of subsidy for newsprint through National Trading Limited, increase the amount of this grant and provide it to the newspapers as public welfare advertisements.

FNJ has expressed confidence that this agreement will be a historic step towards guaranteeing the newspapers' right to advertisements for their professional development.

The federation also said that Minister Gupta has promised to initiate the process of providing public welfare advertisements distributed by the Ministries of Home and Health to the newspapers proportionately through the Department of Information.

As agreed during the discussion, the press representative identity cards issued so far will be re-evaluated and FNJ and the Department of Information will come up with a concrete policy by next week for making the identity card distribution system simple and practical.

Likewise, Minister Gupta assured the FNJ delegation that necessary process will be completed soon to introduce the bill concerning right to information, which has already been submitted by FNJ to the government, during the ongoing session of parliament.

FNJ and the Minister for Information and Communications have also agreed to request the Finance Ministry to issue the already agreed budget of Rs. 5 million to FNJ for building a Media Village, present a proposal at the Council of Ministers seeking Rs. 1 million for strengthening the Journalists Welfare Fund, form task forces to refine all acts concerning communications and include FNJ as permanent member, immediately form a working journalists' remuneration and compensation committee and a complaint committee and implement the decision to provide telephone service and discount on postal charges to journalists.

Kathmandu, July 26 (RSS):The meeting of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) amended royalty rates for 12 peaks under the association with effect from January 2001.

The association has said 1- 4 member team will have to pay 350 US dollars, 5-8 member team will pay 40 US dollars per person and 9-12 team will have to pay US dollars 25 per person.

The association has classified Hiunchuli, Singuchuli, Mera, Kusum Kangru, Kwangde, Chulu West, Chulu East, Island, Farmacho, Lobuje, Ramdung and Pisang in group ‘A’ whereas Tharpuchuli, Khongmatse, Ganjala Chuli, Pokhalde, Mardi Himal and Maldor are in group ‘B’.

The association has said that the increase in the royalty has to be made due to the operation of the international mountaineering museum in Pokhara, the Kakani Mountaneering Memorial Garden in Kakani, the welfare work for professional mountaineers and the cleaning up of Himalayas under mountain environmental preservation work, mountaineering training, mountain rescue, publicity and strengthening of international relations.

Foreign Minister CHAKRA PRASAD BANSTOLA strongly believes that the old mechanism of Nepal-India relation has jammed up and needs to be revived. Pointing out that the pending issues, threatening to cripple the bilateral relations of the two countries, have long been ignored, the senior Congressman plans to figure out the hitches. And that, he says, will be his agenda during Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's visit to India beginning on July 31. Speaking to NAVIN SINGH KHADKA in an exclusive interview, Banstola also stressed on the need of a national consensus to discuss issues like 1950 Nepal-India Treaty with the southern neighbour. Excerpts:

Are the issues to be raised with India short-listed?

In a high-level visit like this, the Prime Minister takes up all the important issues at hand. How they (India) will prioritise it is the main question because everything has to be taken up by us. It is only that certain issues get emphasis. Otherwise, he will have to take up the issues cursorily.

Do we have our priorities clearly defined?

The nation has priorities. There are issues like border delineation, Nepal-India 1950 Treaty and Water Resources.

So are we prepared to talk to India on the prioritised issues?

There is a technical committee working on the border issue. We have been talking on the 1950 treaty for long. No concrete and in-depth study has been done on the provisions of the Treaty itself. What is it that we want? We don't want the treaty or we want its clauses to be reviewed? These are the issues we have not been able to bring out national consensus on.

When we are not prepared ourselves, what will we talk with India?

I think talking on these issues means that maybe we would like to sit with India and get into serious dialogue to review the Treaty. Certain provisions of the Treaty have become obsolete and are no longer operative. So, talking about the treaty with them would mean we want to seriously engage into dialogue on this. And, again, treaties are bilateral. We don't make unilateral treaties. So, it has to be two parties. Now, if you don't want the treaty, you don't need to talk to India. You can simply give a year's notice and finish up.

But, should we not be clear what we want?

It is not only the Foreign Ministry or Nepali Congress to deal with the issue. What we need on this is national consensus. Say, for instance, what if India says what is it you want: A no treaty regime, or an alternative treaty, or what clauses of the treaty be removed. These are some of the possible cases you may be faced with.

What happens if India asks the same question during this visit of the Prime Minister?

Since this has not been raised once but several times, now we would like India to be engaged on serious dialogue with us. This is not a one-day process. We might say we don't like this. They may say they like that. So, it is not something said and it is done.

Any idea on what would India talk about?

These are the issues you can't have any indicative answers about. There would not be any straight forward yes or no answers. How I would look at it is that the 1950 Treaty has moulded our relation. The provisions of the treaty are non-operative. I think this is the right time to make them feel that there is real need to look into the issue. May be things have changed without our realisation and notice. It should be in our effort to make India realise that all is not well with the 1950 Treaty.

Just before the Prime Minister's visit to India, Indian Embassy here has dismissed a Parliamentary Committee's report that Laxmanpur Barrage in Rapti River inundates 33 villages in Banke District. What signal does it send?

I don't think these are any indications. A statement would not change the position of the barrage. It's right there. Even our Parliamentary Committee's stand will not change the fact. We should not bring in the subjective issues. Technically, I agree that it can be examined and I only feel that we have to be serious about such incidents.

The Indian Embassy has also differed on the distance of the barrage from the Nepal-India border. Nepal claims that the five-meter Indian-built dam is 4.5 kilometres from the border while India claims it is eight kilometres away.

I have been raising this issue with the Indian Ambassador. We do not have the same information on facts.

So, how are we going to sort it out?

We have to find a way to do it. Our stand has been put on record. There could be a nice way to find out the problem in the Water Resources sector when figures do not tally. Facts and figures have to tally because they are ground realities. You can't have opinion on that.

Has Nepal done any homework on any specific issue to be raised with India?

Does homework mean somebody else somewhere does the homework and the Prime Minister takes the message? He certainly has to take the public opinion into account. But now they just can't say unless there is a consensus in the Parliament on the issues like Treaty. First of all, we should have the national consensus that we need a new treaty. Or let's not have a treaty at all. And again it is a mutual thing. Are we going to do it unilaterally? Is it for us to draft the treaty and give it to India? It's a bilateral thing. Their interest and our interest should together be moulded in that. There is only one clause by which you can go unilaterally. And that is the termination of the treaty. Otherwise it has to be bilateral. And now it is bilateral there, here it has to be national consensus. This process in itself is not an easy process. Everyone has his own opinion on the treaty. Have we really gone into the repercussions of the various clauses? Say for instance, by way of reference, if you don't want the treaty, you will have to close down the border tomorrow. That means you will have to issue passport to people going across the border. Now, what will happen to the people living in the adjacent areas? You will have to be prepared and you will have to make provision for that already.

But how come the country is not prepared with any plan even after so many years since we identified problems in the 1950 Treaty?

That is why I say may be we have not gone into what we want after that. It is not only Nepali Congress or the present government wanting it or not wanting it. You can clearly see there are opinions and there are differences. It is not only the ministry or the government that should thrash out an idea because it is a vital issue. So, it needs serious consideration by all parties concerned. I held interaction with various parties here and I got diverse opinions. It is easy to say while in the opposition. But what next? In the Parliament people have been asking me to open more checkpoints. I feel that it is high time we have to seriously look into it. It has good elements. It has bad elements. 50 years is a long time. It's a life time. And I sincerely feel that it is time we get deeply into it and see if it can still carry us for another 50 years or we want it changed.

How do we convince India that Nepal is no threat for it?

We have been doing that. We will be convincing that we will not allow our soil to be used against their interest. We have been sincerely convincing our neighbours that we will not allow anyone to use our soil against them.

It is only during the high-level visits, the pending issues with India become the subject of discussion.

It is like sometimes people say whether treaty or no treaty, our relation remains like this. May be that is the cornerstone that could explain this situation. During the visits we raise the issue and later everything is fine. That's why I say, from the time, from the situation, from the national and international changes that have taken place, we have to get into it seriously. It is in the best interest of both Nepal and India to engage into a very serious dialogue.

Will Nepal ask for India's good office to solve the protracted Bhutanese refugee issue?

We have always been doing it. Right from the beginning, we have said that we will try bilaterally and then we will try to use the good office of India and then we will internationalise the issue. I think that is how it has been looked at. And we will not be raising this issue for the first time.

So it is going to be a routine work once again...

No. It’s been there. To me, there is something more to it. When you say India will solve Bhutan's problem, sometimes we don't tend to care about Bhutan's sensitivity. Bhutan is a sovereign country and may be they want to solve their problem with us.

But the problem is not solved even after holding eight rounds of talks with Bhutan in the last seven years.

Now I have come to realise that things happened that way. Say for instance, even relation between Nepal and India has stagnated. It's for no reason, no problems. Just because of our national pre-occupation, it has stagnated. We had a hung Parliament and our major pre-occupation was national. They had instable government so their preoccupation was national. So, the bilateral issues were left behind. All of a sudden we found out that may be the relation between the two countries has soured.

Can we convince India that a strong and prosperous Nepal will do good to it?

I think that is the most important thing. A poor and undeveloped Nepal will have a fall out in India. So, the ground reality is we have to cooperate and develop and progress together.

In case the Prime Minister brings home some good news, will you be serious enough to follow up?

I am trying to see what the problem is. For instance, what concerns me is the border delineation issue that has been going on for the last 24 years. The Laxmanpur barrage issue has been there for long enough. I am trying to find out how does this happen. Why can't it be faster? And I feel it should be faster. And I would try to see how we can make it faster. By itself, it may mean a very small thing but only this process will make us reach our goal. This may sound nitty-gritty though.

Will that be your agenda when you accompany the Prime Minister during his India visit?

My agenda will be to see that things don't take long time, the delivery is good and timely and we would like to see which mechanism is not functioning and how it would function. Because, this part of the work has not received much attention. The high level visits are taking place after four years! And we talk about results. Until recently, all the mechanism of the Nepal-India relation had jammed up. After I went to India recently, there have been spurts of visits. It is this that is revising or making the old mechanism work. They were not working. That is why we have so many pending problems.

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, July 26:Since the shares of the Oriental Hotels Ltd. opened for public subscription Tuesday (July 25), share applications valued at Rs. 125 million had already been collected by the various share application collection centres by today.

This amount excludes the share applications with brokers. Share applications valued at about Rs. 10 million are being processed by the authorised brokers.

As of today, altogether share applications worth Rs. 135 million had been collected.

This amount exceeds the floated amount by Rs. 10 million. Oriental Hotels Ltd. opened shares worth Rs. 125 million only for public subscription.

This is the very first time in Nepal that the shares floated by a five-star hotel had been oversubscribed within two days, said Suresh Shrestha, MD of Ad Links. He is also one of the promoters of the Oriental Hotels Ltd. "This testifies to the immense trust of the general public in the shares of the Oriental Hotels Ltd.", Shrestha pointed out.

Share applications of all those interested in subscribing to the Oriental Hotels Ltd. will still be collected by all authorised brokers and collection centres for five more working days.

Kathmandu, July 26 (RSS):His Majesty's Government has said since construction of the 13-km long and five metre high left afflux bund on the Rapti river has obstructed the flow of the river and other local canals forcing the flow of water to remain in Laxmanpur Barrage, this has caused an increase in the level of water and inundated more land in the north-east of Nepal.

The problem of inundation was already there due to narrowing down of the natural flow of water by the Laxmanpur Barrage and the 10-km long Saryu link canal connected with the barrage.

Stating that Nepal has been raising voices in every meeting of the joint committee taking care of the inundation problem along the Indo-Nepal border since 1986 when its first meeting was held, a water resources spokesman said the construction of the five-metre high dam, just 300 metres away from the border on the Rapti river cannot be justified in anyway.

Arguing that the Indian side should prove that the dam has been constructed as per international standard and it will not affect Nepal at all, the spokesman noted that the tenth meeting of the Indo-Nepal joint committee held last November had decided to submit recommendations for solution of the problem by January, 2000, but the additional construction of the 13-km long dam unilaterally has drawn the government's attention seriously.

The structure does not agree to the international norm that no such structure should be built which poses the danger of adversely affecting the neighbouring country, he further said.

When asked about the claims of India that the Laxmanpur Barrage is located eight km downstream of the India-Nepal border and the pond level of the barrage is 127.60 metres while the general ground level on the Nepalese side is 131 metres which is higher than the pond level, the water resources spokesman said that the barrage has been constructed in less than five km's distance and our problem is narrowing down of the flow of water in 252 metres will result in the submergence of the villages even if the gates of barrage are left open.

The Indian side has not yet technically substantiated the fact such structures will not cause inundation on Nepalese side, he added.

When the attention of the spokesman was drawn to the Indian claims that the issues of Laxmanpur Barrage and embankments have already figured at the meeting of the joint committee or on other occasions, he made it clear that we had demanded all technical details about the embankment at different meetings of the committee which have not yet been provided to us.

Noting that only the map of the barrage construction site and some data on flooding were made available to us which were not enough for technical analysis, the spokesman made it clear that before construction of the barrage, no talks were held with the Nepalese side on issues related to the barrage.

About the complaints concerning the construction of the19.5 km embankment along the right side of Sharada river which has resulted in the washing away of land on Indian territory some 20 kms or so downstream, he clarified that the situation is different in this case since either side of the river belongs to Nepal and the structures meant for river control way back in 1964 proves that the problem of the washing away of the land already existed.

Responding to Indian view that differences on this issue should be resolved through dialogue and technical studies, the spokesman said, "India is our neighbour. So we welcome the Indian intention to resolve problems through bilateral discussions and we optimistic of this."

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, July 26:The House of Representatives today passed the sixth amendment to Citizenship Act-2056 that was returned by the National Assembly without approval.

The Act that has guarantees citizenship rights to a person on the basis of birth sailed through the 205-seat House by the majority voice votes. "The person born in Nepal shall be a Nepalese citizen even if his or her parents are non-Nepalese," the amended clause of the Act states.

Speaker Taranath Ranabhat put the Act to voting after Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi tabled it for re-approval at today's sitting.

Speaking in the Special Hour earlier, ruling Nepali Congress's lawmaker and former finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said that even after Parliament passed the Appropriations Bill the government had not yet distributed the amount to the respective headings. "This delays the implementation of development plans and construction works."

He asked the Finance Minister to complete proceedings relating to the budget allocation and tender within the first quarter of the fiscal year and their implementation within the second.

Similarly, the government should assess and monitor the development projects in the third and the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, Dr Mahat said.

Pashupati Chaulagain of the Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist-Leninist said that the Indian Embassy statement regarding Laxmanpur dam was contradictory and baseless.

The barrage that caused inundation of several villages of Nepal is only five kilometres away from Nepal-India border, not 8 km as claimed by the Embassy, he said. "The construction has violated the international law and is against Nepal's sovereignty."

Chaulagain accused the government of having no clear vision to respond to the Indian statement that came merely 12 hours after Foreign Relations and Human Rights Committee submitted a report on Laxmanpur dam to Parliament. "What is the government's response to the Embassy statement that claims that the construction of the dam was as per agreement?" he questioned.

Lilamani Pokharel of National People's Front said that he condemned Nepalese media for covering the baseless Indian statement on the barrage that is against the national interest. "Both the print and the electronic media, especially the state-controlled ones, ignored the report of several inundated villages and the plight of the victims; this is embarrassing," he said. "The statement is not even official, for non of the Embassy officials have sighed it."

Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani of Rastriya Prajatantra Party asked the government to have a clear approach towards the Maoist problem. He accused Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of not being serious in solving the problem through peace dialogue with the rebels.

Japanese aid key to power development

BY A STAFF REPORTER 

Kathmandu, July 26:A one-day seminar on Japanese Cooperation in Electric Power Development in Nepal held today highlighted Japan's help to Nepal in the development of hydropower and different aspects involved in Nepal's hydropower sector. The seminar was organised by JICA Alumni Association of Nepal.

Speaking at the seminar as the chief guest, Minister of State for Water Resources Ram Bahadur Gurung thanked the Japanese government on behalf of the Ministry of Water Resources for cooperation in different fields. He said the Japanese government through JICA has been extending tremendous cooperation in different sectors such as electricity, irrigation, hydropower, transmission and distribution and in other areas like agriculture. He said the institution of Japanese alumni also indicates Japan's cooperation in human resource development.

Saying the country's power system has undergone drastic transformation and the upcoming power projects indicate Nepal will have adequate development in the power sector. The Minister of State also said Nepal has opened up 7 big rivers in the international arena for harnessing them and he said Nepal would welcome all those, who want to explore Nepal's hydropower potentials.

In his welcome speech Chakra Bandhu Aryal, vice president of the JICA Alumni Association of Nepal (JAAN), said the main objective of the seminar was to find how much Japanese cooperation can be achieved mainly in power development, the present status of power development in Nepal and what type of Japanese cooperation is needed in the electric power development in Nepal.

Shyam Bahadur Shrestha, coordinator of the seminar, said the main purpose of the seminar was to highlight the initiatives taken by the Japanese government in promoting electric power and their effectiveness.

He said Japan has been the top donor country for Nepal in the last several years and power sector has been an important area of Japan's cooperation in Nepal.

The most important hydropower project constructed with Japanese assistance has been the Kulekhani I and II, which accounts about 39 per cent of the country's electricity production, he said.

Bishnu Bam Malla, Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said Japan's help was significant in the development of power sector in Nepal. The Kulekhani I and II have played vital role in Nepal's power supply, he said.

Similarly, Ken Hasegawa, Resident Representative of JICA, Nepal Office, said Japanese cooperation to Nepal is expanding year after year and this has contributed in increasing understanding between the two countries. He also assured that Japan would play even more important role in Nepal's development activities in the years to come.

Talking about the seminar, he said, this was the first seminar to evaluate Japanese cooperation by Nepalese experts.

Charge d' Affaires of the Japanese Embassy in Kathmandu, Koichi Yotsuya said JICA's initiatives have helped to promote relations and cooperation between Japan and Nepal, and JAAN will also help in furthering understandings between Japan and Nepal. Saying Japan's overseas development assistance range about 0.5 per cent of its GDP, he said cooperation in water and power resources has been a major focus in the Japanese government's ODA policies.

Three resource papers on hydropower, transmission and distribution, and rural electrification were presented at the seminar.

Presenting his paper on Japanese Cooperation in Hydro-power Development in Nepal, Govinda K.C., Director-in-Chief at NEA, said Japanese assistance has been instrumental in ushering in phenomenal growth in hydropower.

Mentioning about important projects under Japanese cooperation in the last 40 years, which include Kulekhani River Basin Hydropower Development, he said the 144 MW Kaligandaki 'A' hydropower project is the most important project undergoing construction at present. He pointed at the possibility of Kulekhani III, which will be able to generate 40 MW for 4 hours daily peaking could be a future project where Japanese cooperation may come.

"The project had been discussed between the two governments during the visit of Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to Japan in 1998," he said.

Former secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources Bhubanesh Kumar Pradhan chaired the session and Nima Tshiring Bhutia, chief of generation and transmission of the NEA, commented on the paper.

A working paper on 'Japanese Cooperation for the Development of Power Transmission and Distribution Sector in Nepal' was presented by Tirtha Man Shakya. Shakya is the project manager of the Extension and Reinforcement of Power Transmission and Distribution System in the Kathmandu Valley of NEA. In his paper Shakya said Japanese assistance has extended from the development studies and feasibility studies to power generation, transmission and distribution facilities. These have helped in providing reliable power supply in the Kathmandu Valley. Presently, he said, Japanese government has been providing substantial loan for the construction of 144 MW Kali Gandaki 'A' power station and its 132 KV transmission line network.

Discussing elaborately on the present scenario in transmission and distribution, he has pointed at the prevailing problems and proposed plans for their remedy. Shanta Bahadur Pun, special officer at the Ministry of Water Resources, had chaired the session and the paper was commented by Mohan Bahadur Kayastha, Director of the NEA.

The third paper of the seminar was presented by Dr. Laxmi Bhakta Silpakar, Assistant Manager at NEA, on Japanese Cooperation in rural electrification. Calling rural electrification as the need of the time, he said only 4 per cent of the rural populace have access to electricity, thus, rural electrification is one of the main infrastructures to be developed if the social and economic conditions of the rural people are to be uplifted. The paper was commented by Mohan Bahadur Kayastha, Director of the NEA.

Shanta Bahadur Pun as chairperson had concluded the seminar.