'Reconstruction of infrastructure to begin soon'

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KATHMANDU, Feb. 16: Financial and economic activities will be taken ahead soon for the reconstruction of physical infrastructures damaged in the recent past.

Physical structures such as power houses, telecommunications towers, Village Development Committee (VDC) buildings and bridges were damaged especially since the beginning of the people's war launched by the Maoists.

Some of the infrastructure fell into disuse because they were too old or were swept away by floods and landslides.

Technical personnel participating in a national seminar on reconstruction of the physical infrastructures organised by Nepal Engineers Association here today pointed out the need for the government and private sector to join hands for the reconstruction of damaged structures now that peace had been restored.

Addressing the seminar, Minister for Water Resources Deepak Gyawali said that the government had started to work on the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure.

Laying emphasis on the need for one and all to extend cooperation from their respective quarters to convert the ceasefire into sustainable peace, he said that without physical development, it would not be possible to raise the living standard of the people.

Association general secretary Bharat Pahari and member Deepak Bhattarai said that technical personnel within the country should be mobilised for the reconstruction work.

At the second session of the seminar, senior engineer of the Department of Roads Keshav Prasad Wagley and technical expert of Nepal Electricity Authority Dr. Santosh Man Mishra presented separate working papers.

Engineer at Nepal Telecommunicaitons Corporation Sunil Pokharel said that it would cost around Rs 600 million to reconstruct the damaged NTC towers.

Japan plans to double tourists by 2007

From Lok Deep Thapa

KYOTO, Feb 16: If one is to go by the thousands of people visiting the historical sites of Kyoto and Nara in western Japan that too on a cold and rainy day, then one would perceive that the Japanese government is pretty happy with its tourism industry.

But no, that is not the case. The Japanese government plans to double the number of tourists coming into this land of "The Rising Sun" by the year 2007. "We are starting a "Visit Japan" campaign from next year," said Mr. Tsuji Nozomi, Director in the Japan National Tourist Organisation in Tokyo, in an exclusive chat with this reporter.

According to her, the 13 overseas offices of her organisation have already started activities like attending trade and consumer shows, organising familiarisation trips for travel agencies and tour operators and, of course, advertising through the different media, specially in the target nations.
Right now, Japan gets around four million tourists a year, which is quite impressive compared to the number of visitors South Asia gets despite its varied culture and natural beauty.

" We get around four million tourists, but more than 16 million Japanese go abroad, " said Tsuji. She also expressed concern that many Japanese were cutting down on their travel plans, specially within the country due to the protracted downturn in the national economy."

Now we want foreigners to come and take over from where internal Japanese tourists have left and give a boost to not only Japanese tourism, but also make an impact in the national economy in the long run, said Tsuji.

Japan expects most of its tourists to come from Asia itself with South Korea topping the chart and China following close behind. "We expect our Chinese tourist market to grow rapidly in the future, and we are carefully planning how best we can tap this market," said Tsuji.

Meanwhile, unlike the Visit Nepal Year which lasted for a year only, Japan intends to carry out its Visit Japan campaign for five years. "We are encouraged that even after 9/11, the flow of tourists to Japan did not decrease. So we are quite hopeful that our target of doubling the number of foreign tourists to Japan can be achieved within the time frame we have set up," Tsuji said.

Kyoto and Nara, which abound in ancient Buddha temples, shrines and other historical artifacts set amidst picturesque sites, are popular destinations in Japan among visitors.

Perhaps, few people will not be impressed with places like the Todui-Ji Temple, which houses one of the biggest statues of Lord Buddha in Japan, Kasuga Taisha Shrine, Byodoin Temple, Kofukuji Temple with a National Treasure Hall, the Buddhist temple with 1001 statues of the Goddess of Mercy and Hindu statues and the Kiyomizu Buddhist Temple and Jishu Shrine, both recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site, among others.

All of these temples, shrines and artifacts dating back to around the 6th century have been immaculately preserved. With such rich cultural heritage and precision planning on the part of the tourism authorities, Japan's tourism sector is expected to see better times.