BRIEFS (Spotlight Weekly)

King Gyanendra in Samyak ceremony in Bhuikhel. Swoyambhu

HER MAJESTY QUEEN KOMAL RAJYA LAXMI DEVI SHAH is scheduled to visit London on Jan. 24 for a medical check-up. Her Majesty the Queen will be accompanied by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev, Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Himani Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah and Her Royal Highness Princess Prerana Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah. Her Majesty Queen Komal was injured in the June 1 incident at the Royal Palace.

SALT RESERVE GODOWNS ARE BEING CONSTRUCTED at five places in the country with Japanese assistance, a newspaper report said. A godown with 5,000-metric-tonne capacity has already been constructed at Biratnagar, whereas four godowns are being constructed at Dhangadhi, Bhairahawa, Birgunj and Janakpur. According to the Salt Trading Corporation, the combined capacity of the five godowns will be 17,000 metric tonnes. These reserves are expected to facilitate supply of iodized salt throughout the country.

Q.A.M.A. RAHIM, A CAREER DIPLOMAT FROM Bangladesh, has assumed office as secretary-general at the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu beginning Friday (January 11). A former Bangladeshi high commissioner to Pakistan and Australia, Rahim was serving as an officer on special duty at the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh. He replaces Nihal Rodrigo, a Sri Lankan career diplomat, who was actively engaged in organizing the 11th summit of the seven-member body in Kathmandu early this month.

HIS MAJESTY KING GYANENDRA BIR BIKRAM SHAH DEV has, in accordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990, appointed Jaya Pratap Rana as Royal Nepalese Ambassador to the United States of America. Rana is a former member-secretary of the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE KALI GANDAKI "A" project has been completed and is to begin test operations soon. The 144-MW hydroelectricity project is preparing to start its "wet test", according to a statement by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned utility that developed the project. Minister for Water Resources Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar, along with other high-ranking officials, inspected the project site in Syangja district on Wednesday. According to experts, after the Kali Gandaki project starts delivering electricity to the national grid, the country would have a power surplus for the next few years.

THE GOVERNMENT IS TO START THE 225 MW Sapta Gandaki hydropower project this year. Although a Japanese company had conducted the preliminary survey of the project in 1985, the government had shelved it, as it was more keen on developing Arun III then. The Japanese company had reported that the Sapta Gandaki project could be completed within five years. Then, the company had put the cost of the project at Rs 355 million. After 17 years, the cost would naturally have gone up, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. Minister of State for Water Resources Narayan Sharma Poudel has informed that the government was planning to produce electricity as well as conduct Narayani river control program in an integrated manner through the Sapta Gandaki project. The government has formed a committee headed by Arjun Shrestha, director at the Water and Energy Commission, to study the project and present a report within four months. Poudel said the project work would be started soon after the government receives the report.

THE RULING NEPALI CONGRESS AND THE MAIN OPPOSITION Unified Marxist-Leninist have agreed to form a team including leaders from all recognized political parties and dispatch them to the districts to monitor the state of emergency. The two parties agreed to form such monitoring teams in view of reports that the administration was misusing its emergency powers to arrest and/or harass workers of different political parties and that the role of security forces had not been positive at some places. The two parties have also decided to hold their meeting first this weekend and then call for an all-party meet to send the joint teams to the districts.