Nepal gets Rs 460 M Swiss aid

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KATHMANDU, Feb. 10: The government of Switzerland has agreed to provide financial assistance for two programmes totalling Swiss Francs 7.673 million (about Rs. 43 Crore 89 Lakh) and a technical assistance of Swiss Francs 0.4506 million (about Rs. 2 Crore 57 Lakh) making an overall assistance of Swiss Francs 8.124 million (about Rs. 46 Crore 46 Lakh) to the Kingodm of Nepal for implementation of the sustainable soil management programme phase-II, the strenghtened maintenance divisions programme phase-III and the vertical shaft brick kiln technology transfer programme, respectively.

Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Bhanu Prasad Acharya and Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Walter Fust signed three separate agreements to this effect on behalf of their respective governments.

Anton Hagen, resident coordinator of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Nepal was also present on the occasion.

Under the first agreement, a grant assistance of Swiss Francs 4.5 million (about Rs. 25 Crore 74 Lakh) will be used for the implementation of phase-II of the sustainable soil management programme, according to a press release from the Ministry of Finance.

The main objective of the programme is to improve agriculture soil fertility and productivity in Bari-dominated farming systems.

This will be achieved by building up the technical and methodological capacity of farmers for sustainable management of soil through support to enabling collaborating institutions.
The programme covers altogether 11 districts of the mid-hills - Baitadi, Doti, Achham, Dailekh, Surkhet, Syangia, Baglung, Parbat, Sindhupalchowk, Kavre and Dolkha or Ramechhap. The programme will start in 2003 and will be completed by the end of 2007.Under the second agreement,

a grant assistance of Swiss Francs 3.173 million (about Rs. 18 Crore 15 Lakh) will be used for implementing phase-III of the strengthened maintenance divisions programme.

The main objective of the programme is to reduce road cost at minimum level by improving road maintenance operations on the strategic road network.

The programme intends to facilitate the mobility of people and transport of goods. The programme will be completed in June 2006.

The programme to be jointly implemented by HMG and SCC is aimed at fostering coordination with other donors and ministries in the transport sector.

Under the third agreement, the technical assistance will be used for implementing the Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln (VSBK) Project.

The main purpose of the project is to transfer VSBK technology to Nepal.

The technology uses less energy than the existing technology and thereby causes less environment pollution.

After using this technology, brick shafts in brick industries can be run for the whole year instead of the existing seasonal operation system.

It will also improve the social status and working condition of labour. Moreover, small and medium entrepreneurs can also participate in the brick sector with this technology.

Finance secretary Acharya, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, expressed sincere appraciation and thanks to the government of Switzerland for the continued cooperation in the socio-economic development of Nepal.

Issues to link Indian railways to Birgunj dry port discussed

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb. 10: Nepalese and Indian officials talked today about extending Indian railways to the dry port at the border town of Birgunj. This is the third time the two countries have met to discuss the issue.

Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Purushotam Ojha, who is leading the Nepalese team in the talks, said that the meeting today discussed about simplifying the customs procedures and the selection of a terminal management company to operate the dry port. The Nepalese government is in the process of selecting the company, he said.

The billion-rupee dry port was constructed with World Bank assistance two years ago as a container port to handle exports and imports. It has been lying idle because the two countries are unable to reach an agreement to extend Indian railways.

As there are some complexities in the customs procedures in the prevailing transit treaty, the government wants to make them simpler, and the Indian side has responded positively, Ojha added.
The meeting is the follow-up of the second round of talks held in New Delhi last September. The first round of talks was held in Kathmandu in May 2002.

Other members of the Nepalese team are Rishi Ram Lamichhane, Deputy Director General of the Department of Customs; Ravi Raj Pant, undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance; Rudra Kumar Nepal, undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Naresh Pokhrel, undersecretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies; Dilli Raj Ghimire, undersecretary at the Ministry of Law; Surya Bahadur Manandhar, Executive Director of Nepal International Transport Development Committee; and Keshav Kafle, consultant at the Nepal Multi-model Project.

Shree Prakash, Executive Director of the Railway Ministry of India, is leading the seven-member Indian team. The talks will continue tomorrow.

The talks on extending Indian railways was preceded by two days of discussions on starting direct transportation services between the two countries. But Nepal and India were unable to reach a conclusion.

According to Chabi Raj Pant, Director General at the Department of Transport Management, some issues related to transportation services are still under discussion.

The Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs (FNTE) had warned the government not to take any hasty decision that would affect and go against the national interest. "A treaty that allows Indian vehicles to enter Nepal freely will not only jeopardise our business, but even post a problem to Nepal's security," its chairman Bishnu Siwakoti had said at a press meet Sunday.

The FNTE says Nepalese entrepreneurs have invested more than Rs. 63 billion in the transport sector, and that Nepalese entrepreneurs would not be able to compete with their Indian counterparts.
"The Nepalese government should not compromise on direct transportation services between the two countries in exchange for the extension of Indian railways to Birgunj," FNTE says.

Responding to their concerns, Director General Pant said that there was no need for Nepalese entrepreneurs to panic. "The government would put national interest and the interest of transport entrepreneurs while reaching any agreement."

Mahashivaratri celebration main committee formed

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KATHMANDU, Feb. 10: A 300-member main celebration committee and 13 sub-committees have been constituted for proper making proper arrangements for devotees visiting the temple of Pashupatinath on the occasion of the festival of Mahashivaratri.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting presided over by Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Kuber Prasad Sharma here today.

Preparations are under way to make a provision for charging a certain fee to rich devotees coming for a Darshan to Pashupatinath in return for special services for a specified time from one of the doors of the temple, it was disclosed on the occasion.

The preparations being made to provide modern services to the devotees and developing the festival as religious tourism by charging a fee is praiseworthy, said Minister Sharma on the occasion.

Raj Parishad Standing Committee member Swami Dr. Prapannacharya, member cum secretary of the Pashupati Area Development Trust Basanta Chaudhari and a host of other speakers also expressed their views on the occasion.

Political parties demand transparent peace talks

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 10: Four political parties represented in the dissolved House of Representatives today jointly demanded that the government and the CPN- Maoist maintain transparency while holding the peace talks.

They called for an end to the existing confusion and uncertainty regarding the forthcoming talks.
A joint meeting of the Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Nepali Congress (Democratic) and Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) held at the UML's central office at Balkhu Monday expressed serious concern over the existing situation in the country.

It concurred that the forthcoming government-Maoist talks should be based on national consensus and guide the nation towards reforms by protecting the achievements of the popular movement of 2046 B.S., said a UML press statement issued after the meeting.

The statement comes after almost two weeks after the announcement of a cease-fire by the government and the Maoists.

While speculations are rife about the forthcoming talks, the government has said that it is committed to translating the cease-fire into a lasting peace in the country.

The Maoists have demanded a round table meeting among the political parties in the parliament, representatives of the Royal Palace, the government, civil society and the Maoists themselves. An interim government and a constitutional assembly are their other demands.

At today's meeting, leaders of the four parties agreed that the Maoist problem should be resolved through talks.

Madhav Kumar Nepal, Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Subas Nemwang and Yub Raj Karki of the UML, Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana, Kamal Thapa, Jogmehar Shrestha and Deepak Bohara of the RPP, Hom Nath Dahal, Prakash Man Singh and Basant Kumar Gurung of the NC (Democratic), and Bharat Bimal, Hridayash Tripathi and Rajendra Mahato of the NSP were present at the meeting.

'Rehabilitate children hit by insurgency'

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb. 10: Immediate rehabilitation of children and women affected by the seven-year-old Maoist insurgency was stressed at a programme organised by six social organisations working for children and women to announce the formation of the Child Rights Watch - Nepal (CRWN) here today. The group comprises Maiti Nepal, Nepal Children's Organisation, Child Rights Civic Society, Paropakar Sanstha and Privileged Children's Programme.

Bishwo Ram Khadka of Maiti Nepal said that the programmes of the group would focus on the rehabilitation of children and women affected by the conflict. He said that the statistics on the number of children killed in the conflict was not authentic and that many more children may have been killed. He said that they would be working to find out the actual number of children killed and affected by the conflict.

The annual report of Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN) state that about 146 children were killed in the last seven years while thousands were orphaned.

The group has proposed the establishment of a national-level park in memory of the children killed in the conflict. The group has also demanded that the issues of children and their rehabilitation be raised in the peace talks between the government and the Maoists.

President of Sahara Shamuha Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal said that the issue of children should be given priority by all those concerned at this juncture when they are in need of rehabilitation.

The group has also announced that they would be working in six districts - Jhapa, Sindhuli, Kavre, Gorkha, Banke and Kailali - to find out the needs of the children even after the announcement of a cease-fire in the country.

Job quotas not received from S Korea: Ministry

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb. 10: The Ministry of Labour and Transport Management has refuted rumours that South Korea has awarded some 4,000 labour quotas to Nepal.

"When the Ministry has not received any quotas, there is no question of awarding it to any manpower agency," said the press statement issued today by the Ministry.The Ministry has also warned the general public not to be carried away by brokers who are reported to be blackmailing the Nepalese youths seeking foreign employment.Nearly 5,000 Nepalese youths are currently working in Korea.

Going to US? You will have to wait Bush address

By Krishna Sharma

KATHMANDU, Feb. 10: While more than 100 Nepalese youths are impatiently waiting for work permits in the United States after being interviewed last November, Practical Employees Solution (PES) in the US has said that it would talk to them only after President George W. Bush addresses the nation on February 14 (Friday).

"Since America's policy on oil-rich Iraq is going to have great impact on business there, we are awaiting it before we can say anything," said Dan Bahadur Tamang of Around the World Manpower Company, quoting Ms. Veronica, the head of the PES.

Around the World Manpower Company and Rose Overseas Pvt. Ltd. have been coordinating with the PES, an America-based manpower agency, in sending Nepalese youths to the US on work permit visas.

After the interviews last November, the selected youths were told that they would be contacted by January, 2003.

"Ms. Veronica of the PES is scheduled to arrive in Nepal by February 25 with 15 out of the more than 125 documents which have been approved by the US Immigration Department," Tamang told The Rising Nepal.

If the American Embassy in Kathmandu offers visas to them, they will be working as cooks in the Yosemite National Park Hotel. There are other nine such hotels which are currently seeking Nepalese workers through the PES.

The embassy, however, seems choosy about offering visas to Nepalese seeking work there, a youth who is among 127 selected said. It awarded only 12 visas out of the 200 quotas which Himal and Satyawati Overseas Concerns had received from Global Horizon Manpower (GHM), a local manpower agency in America, last year.

Dhana Khadka of Satyawati Overseas said they could not send the others because the embassy accused them of collecting hefty sums of money from the clients.

"Legally we charged Rs. 80,000 from each of the workers whose visas were stamped, but the amount grew because we had to settle other things as well," said Khadka.

He said that the GHM had also demanded some money as commission from each of the youths going to the USA. "We had then told GHM that they were unable to provide the money, but that they could collect it from the youths once they begin work there, if they wanted."

He said the US embassy was cautious while offering working visas. "All the boys met the criteria sought by the GHM, and the US State Department had also okayed their documents. But the embassy rejected them, saying it was inconvinced that the boys would return after completing their three-year contract," Khadka said.

"We cannot confirm how many of the candidates will be going this time. The embassy's decision is last and binding," Tamang said.

PES wanted to hire 368 Nepalese workers to work in hotels and electricity companies in the US. But since the Nepalese government will allow only 100 youths to go there, the two overseas concerns have forwarded the names of 127 youths.

A source disclosed that among those selected, some have been blacklisted by the US Government.
Tamang is hopeful that many of his 'selected youths' will go. "Since the United States and other countries are trying to recruit people from non-Muslim nations after 9/11, we believe there will be many opportunities for the Nepalese in the future," he said.