HM opens architects' conference

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KATHMANDU, Oct. 3: His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev inaugurated the SAARCH conference-2002 at a special function here today.Her Majesty Queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah also graced the function.The two-day conference on the theme of heritage conservation and architecture of tourism in SAARC countries organised by the Society of Nepalese Architects (SONA) is being participated in by some 200 architects from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as well as Nepal.At the function, Their Majesties the King and Queen were presented a letter of felicitation by chairman of SAARCH (the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation of Architects) Devendra Nath Gongal and immediate past chairman V.N.C. Gunasekhara. Their Majesties granted audience to architects of the SAARC region.The conference has been organised with the objective of bringing about exchange of experience and technology with a view to help preserve ancient heritage, and to highlight the significant role that architects can play in the promotion of tourism.In the course of the conference the regular meeting of the SAARCH council will also be held, it is stated.Addressing the inaugural function, Minister for Physical Planning and Works Chiranjibi Wagle spoke of the importance of man made living history for heritage conservation in the SAARC region.

Pointing out that heritage is important for tourism in any country, he said His Majesty's Government is committed to preserving the country's heritage.SAARCH chairman Gongal hoped the conference would play a significant role in fostering exchange of knowhow and wisdom within the SAARC region.
Prof. Sudarsan Raj Tiwari said heritage bound designing of buildings will help create cultural continuity and add a dynamic dimension to the conservation of heritage.

SAARC secretariat director Tarik Najir read out a message of best wishes from the SAARC secretary-general.Outgoing SAARCH chairman Gunasekhara and SONA general secretary Gyanendra Raj Devkota also spoke on the occasion.

Also present on the occasion were the Chief Justice, the Speaker, the chairman of the Raj Parishad Standing Committee, heads of diplomatic missions and other distinguished persons as well as architects.

His Majesty starts consultations on PM's submission to reschedule polls

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Oct. 3: His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev has started consultations with political party leaders, heads of constitutional bodies, legal experts and intellectuals on the submission of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday, to postpone the General Elections scheduled to be held on coming November 13, 2002 to November 19 Wednesday, 2003. The Prime Minister has recommended to His Majesty to announce the new schedule for the general elections citing the Article 127 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal to resolve the present political crisis.
Prime Minister Deuba had recommended to His Majesty pursuant to Article 53 (4) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal to dissolve the House of Representatives on May 21, 2002 to seek the fresh mandate of the people on November 13, 2002.

The new recommendation has been made considering the present unfavourable situation prevailing in the country to hold elections as scheduled within six months of the dissolution of the House of Representatives as per the Constitutional provision.

According to the Principal Press Secretariat of His Majesty the King, His Majesty today held consultations with the Speaker of the House Taranath Ranabhatt, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Raj Parishad Dr. Keshar Jung Rayamajhi, former prime minister and president of the Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala, former prime minister and president of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Surya Bahadur Thapa, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal, Acting National President of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party Badri Prasad Mandal, president of the Nepal Peasants and Workers' Party Narayan Man Bijukche (Rohit) and other political leaders.

Similarly, His Majesty also granted audience to former prime ministers Kirtinidhi Bista, Lokendra Bahadur Chand and Marichman Singh today. There had been much debate within the government as well as the major political parties, on whether the election, announced by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, after he recommended the dissolution of the House of Representatives on May last, should be held as scheduled.

It may be mentioned that most of the political parties, including the then main opposition within the Parliament, the CPN (UML), had insisted the election should be held as scheduled. However after some months, in a complete aboutturn in their prior decisions, a meeting of the mainstream political parties last week, had recommended to the Prime Minister that the election should be postponed.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, in accordance with the appeal of the all-party meet and his conviction that the voice of the political parties have to be given due recognition and respect, acted as per their suggestion and recommended to His Majesty the King, that in view of the demand of the all-party meet, the dates for the general election he announced some six months back, should now be postponed by one year.

The Election Commission just some days earlier, had announced that the general election would be held in six phases, taking a little over two months to complete the whole poll schedule.  After 1990, when once more a multi-party democracy had been established in the country, elections all over the country had been held in one day, except in the last election in 1998, when polls were held in two phases.

It can be presumed that the Election Commission, after consultations with the political parties, government officials and high ranking security personnels, had come to the conclusion that elections could be held in a fair, free and secure environment only if it was held in a phase wise manner.
This was indeed pragmatic, keeping in mind the senseless violence being perpetrated by the Maoist terrorists, specially after the lifting of the emergency about two months back. It has been reported in some sections of the media that the terrorists, who are afraid to face the judgement of the people, had even threatened to disrupt the polls, a most undemocratic decision by any standards.

Even the international community has vehemently criticised the inhuman activities of the terrorists, who have compelled the government to use force and initiate drastic measures against their inhuman acts.

However, keeping in mind the compulsion of the general people to mutely watch many atrocities, many political observers, intellectuals and even ordinary citizens have criticised the political parties about their inability to counter such threats of the terrorists, in a political manner. They have said how political representatives have not been able to resist the senseless provocations of the terrorists, specially in the rural areas. The parties have also not been able to rally the people, who eventually are the biggest sufferers, to resist the mindless violence, which is pushing the nation to the brink of economic disaster.

Five parties form Bam Morcha

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KATHMANDU, Oct. 3: Five communist parties registered at the Election Commission have allied themselves with the Samyukta Bammorcha or the United Communist Front on the basis of a progressive programme of minimum common understanding.

The five parties include CPN (Marxist), CPN (ML-reconstituted), CPN (United), Nepal Samyabadi Party (Malema) And Socialist Movement Nepal. The parties have also constituted the Samyukta Bammorcha central committee and made public a common declaration and constitution.

General secretary of CPN-Marxist Prabhu Narayan Chaudhary is the chairperson of the central committee while Rishi Kattel is the secretary, Hemanta Bahadur BC the treasurer. Loknarayan Subedi, Kumar Belbase and Fanindra Neupane are the secretariat members and Achyut Gyawali, CP Mainali, Jeetbir Lama, Bishnu Bahadur Manandhar, Prakash Adhikari, Nanda Kumar Prasain, Rabindra Basnet, Shyam Shrestha and Harigovinda Luintel are members.

The chairperson of the forum will be changed in every six months on the basis of Devnagari alphabetical order.Safeguarding the achievements of the 1990 popular movement and carrying out the works still to be compled for a popular revolution and guidinmg the society towards the path of progressive radical change is the strategic target of the front.

Meanwhile, the Front has also demanded that the government appeal for unconditional talks and the Maoists declare a cease-fire in order to give a way out to the present obstructive national politics and maintain law and order in the country with a commitment of concrete steps for progressive change.
Speaking at the Samyukta Janamorcha Nepal declaration meet here today, the party leaders Prabhu Narayan Chaudhary, Bishnu Bahadur Manandhar, CP Mainali, Nanda Kumar Prasain and Shyam Shrestha stressed the need for an integrated communist unity in order to defeat the reactionary and rightist forces.

They were also of the view that the country can be saved from the reactionary forces and achievement of the 1990 popular movement protected through the Samyukta Bammorcha.  Independent communist leader Padma Ratna Tuladhar called upon The Samyukta Bammorcha to follow its principle.

MP Dr Ram Man Shrestha extended congratulations and best wishes. Meanwhile, vice-chairman of the Rastriya Prajatanra Party (RPP) Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani has spoken of the need for unity among all forces supporting parliamentary democracy to bring into the national mainstream those forces perpetrating murder, violence and terror in the country.

Vice-chairman Lohani said this while inaugurating the third district convention of RPP Saptari district working committee here today. Noting that election is the basis for democracy and the expression of the people's sovereign power, he expressed doubts about the elections being held on the scheduled dates considering the present sorry state of law and order in the country.

Regarding the talks on formation of an all-party government that is doing the rounds in public, he said taking part or not taking part in the government was not important and what was important was seeking solution to the country's problems. The Maoists would be compelled to come for dialogue if all the political forces unite and work to that end with commitment, he noted.

RPP central member Padma Sundar Lawati appreciated the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for what it was doing, but accused the journalists of being biased. At the programme presided over by RPP district president Govinda Singh, central member Ram Kumar Subba, RPP assistant general secretary Renu Yadav, Nepali Congress' Sushila Sewa, Mohmad Kamaluddin of Nepal Sadbhavana Party, Pralhad Saha of the RPP's department of environment and indigenous committees and others also expressed their views.

Governance failure alleged for current crisis

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Oct 3: If the country's politicians and other responsible authorities fail to take a "historic and bold decision to rescue the nation from the existing volatile situation in two or three months" it will fall into a crisis, said sociologists, economists and development activists.  They said that the country was passing through a hard time and that everybody should think about the nation's very existence. The cost of any mistake committed by the government or any political party at this critical juncture will be very high, they added.

They also noted that lack of accountability at the decision making level and mounting corruption were the root cause of the social anomalies and people's frustration after the establishment of multiparty system in 1990. The domino effect of the unequal distribution of the national resources has pushed the nation into today's vulnerable condition, they said Unless the problem of unequal distribution of the nation's resources is solved, the problem will be more intense, said Dev Raj Dahal a sociologist.
Speaking at a programme on "Achieving Accountable Governance in Nepal" organised by the Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies (NEFAS) Dahal underlined the need to address the main problem of social unrest and people's frustrations. The Maoist problem is the cumulative effect of the people's frustration that emerged due to the failure of governance, he added.

He further said that people at the decision making level should also be made accountable for the failure of any decision. Besides, there should an effective legal instrument to penalize the corrupt authorities at the decision-making level. The real problems of the majority of the people living in the rural areas should be addressed said Prof. Guna Nidhi Sharma. Speaking in a similar vain development expert Shirish Rana underlined the need for equal participation of the people in the development activities.

Presenting a working paper on "Public Policy making in Nepal, public administration expert Dr. Hiramani Ghimire said that the policy making in a multi-centric state is a difficult exercise that needs to take into account the expectations and interests of different socio- political and economic power groups. The soundness of policies needs to be judged by their efficacy in meeting the socio-economic objectives, he said.

Another working paper presentator Bihari Krishna Shrestha, sociologist said that the political leaders and concerned authorities should take a 'historic and bold' decision to rescue the country from turmoil.

He also underlined the need for effective governance for conflict resolution at the moment.
Anada Shrestha, executive director of NEFAS said that accountable governance requires a strong political commitment as well as dedicated and competent leadership. The elections are not going to solve the people's problems if political leaders are not serious about the people and the nation. The programme was organized with the assistance of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

Safety guidelines on power being developed

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Oct. 3: Nepal will have its own guidelines on safety standard for electricity generation, transmission and distribution of hydropower projects. A two-day workshop organised by the Department of Electricity Development (DoED) and Small Hydropower Promotion Project of GTZ and participated by the Butwal Power Company (BPC) and various other projects, started discuss today on the draft manual of the safety guidelines to give a final shape. The workshop started today.

The draft manual, prepared by a study team of the Butwal Power Company and submitted to DoED, contains one main volume and seven other volumes on safety guidelines during the tender, construction and the distribution phases. Speaking at the inauguration session Chief of the study team Bharat Raj Pandey of the BPC highlighted about the safety guidelines mentioned in the manuals. He said this is the first time Nepal has tried to have its own safety guidelines.

Shreedhar Devkota, Project Manager of the Small Hydropower Promotion Project of the GTZ, said that safety guidelines have become necessary to avoid and minimise accidents in different aspects of the construction and operation of the hydropower projects. He said the manuals have given more emphasis on safety measures in the small projects.

As Chief Guest Executive Secretary at the Water and Power Commission Secretariat Dev Raj Regmi said that a hydropower action plan for the development of the water and energy sector has been formulated early this year. He also said we have lacked safety guidelines and there are instances of small and minor faults which have caused accidents. The workshop and the outcome of it, he said, will be helpful in formulating safety guidelines.

From the chair, Director General of the Department of Electricity Development Lekhman Singh said that the safety guidelines have become important for proper and effective production and the utilisation of electricity. He said the 10th Five Year plan has plans to extend the transmission line by 659 kilometres and the distribution network by 1,743 kilometres providing electricity to 700,000 more people in 2,600 VDCs of the country.

Green roads care ecology, down costs

By Bhimsen Thapaliya

Kathmandu, Oct. 3: Bitter lessons of the past have prompted mountain road planners to make a U-turn from conventional road building patterns in favour of environment- friendly, labour intensive and low cost approaches. The conventional approach with heavy emphasis on mechanisation not only escalated the construction and maintenance costs, but also brought adverse environmental eventualities. This method has also been criticised for the limited economic impact on people's lives. The common experience of contractors has been that building roads is expensive, time consuming and that the roads are prone to regular floods and landslides and have limited economic returns.

The use of heavy equipment that run on imported fuel is not suitable for the fragile mountain rural environment. So the focus has lately shifted to 'green roads' that care for the ecology and are labour intensive, Dr. Chandra B. Shrestha, rural transport specialist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) told The Rising Nepal. In the green road approach, plantation is an integral part of road building and is known as bioengineering. "Plants, instead of concrete structures, make road building more sustainable and less costly," Dr. Shrestha said.

The low-cost and labour intensive method has been identified as the appropriate technological option to provide road access to the rural people. Such mountain roads accord high priority to the participatory concept, making maximum use of local materials, labour, tools and managers. No heavy machines are used and no dynamiting is done. Such roads are single lane and go for bioengineering solutions to possible environmental vulnerability. When the earth is dug out from one place, it is used to fill ditches and low lying areas nearby. Loss of existing forests is kept to a minimum, and the land that is exposed due to loss of green cover on both sides of the road is protected with new plantation.
The cost effectiveness of the new method is impressive. It is possible to build four kilometres of road under the new technique at the cost that goes to construct one kilometre under the conventional approach, argues an ICIMOD publication based on building experiences in Nepal.

In 1993/94, the cost of constructing a kilometre of road under the local road programme (LRP) was Rs. 950,000. This amount did not include the overhead and management costs. While this is substantially lower than the conventional road building costs, local road construction in Dhading offers an even more encouraging example. There, local road construction costs have been as low as Rs. 600,000 per kilometre, according to ICIMOD.

So far, the low cost model of road construction has been used in Palpa, Dhading and Gorkha districts with significant positive results. Although only about 100 kilometres of roads have been built using this method, there are already signs of success. Planners say that less than a third of this length would have possibly been built had the conventional approach been embraced. At a time when environmental consciousness is rising and the socio-economic impact of roads has come to fore, planners are mulling over the idea of extending this approach to more areas.

"Experience shows that maintenance and use of this type of roads is effective as the people at the grassroots and the local governments are responsible for their upkeep, " said Johannes Knapp, rural development programme coordinator at the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ).  The District Development Committees are entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining these roads using local people's participation. The local poor benefit economically as no labourers are brought in from the outside. As around 80 per cent of the construction costs go into labour payments, the economic status of the low income workers is raised. Some of the maintenance funds are locally raised from vehicles as road toll. Further support comes from the central road maintenance fund.
The green approach is a departure from the old method of consultant-contractor domination and almost zero involvement of the local beneficiaries. Different agencies are associated in the construction and operation of roads. They include the farmer who provides the land for the road, the engineer who oversees the construction and the district level representatives who enforce the rules and mobilise the village level bodies. The road users, different NGOs and workers are also involved.
Heavy concrete structures get low priority; the construction is done in phases for natural stabilisation, and the local water sources, temples, Chautari (rest places), community spouts, springs, existing trails are duly preserved. While women get priority in paid work, children under 16 are prohibited from being employed.

In the past, the mountains served as a formidable barrier against the invaders. Today the difficult topography in the Hindukush Himalayan regions poses a challenge in providing access to markets and services to the isolated rural people. Many areas in this region have invested heavily on mountain roads, airstrips, bridges and even railways. As they were built for security reasons and impractical dreams of churning economic miracles, they have resulted in ecological and financial disasters, according to ICIMOD. This has prompted a sharp turn in the road building approach.

SAARC Commerce secretaries meeting on Oct. 26 and 27

BY A Staff Reporter

KATHAMNDU, Oct 3 : The Eleventh SAARC Commerce Secretary level meeting is going to be held in the capital on October 26-27. The Committee on Economic Cooperation (CEC) that comprises commerce secretaries of all the SAARC countries will discuss the overall economic issues including customs and the SAARC Economic Agenda, according to Purshottam Ojha, joint secretary at the Ministry of Industry Commerce and Supplies (MoICS).

The meeting will also discuss the progress on the SAARC Free Trade Arrangement (SAFTA) framework and the matters relating to the common position of the least developed countries (LDCs) in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Ojha informed that the meeting would also review the preliminary draft of SAFTA framework and other economic issues as well. He said that the upcoming meet would help further strengthen the economic ties between the members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

According to official sources at the Ministry, the process of preparing the preliminary draft of the SAFTA framework is 'too slow' due to lackadaisical attitude of India and Pakistan. The sources said the draft would not be ready before the 12th SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad in January 2003. It may be recalled that 11th SAARC summit held in Kathmandu in January this year had stressed the need for preparing the draft before the 12th SAARC summit.

As a host country Nepal will chair the meeting. A five-day SAARC trade fair will also begin on October 25.