Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

King Gyanendra unveils the statue of late King Birendra

KING GYANENDRA AND QUEEN KOMAL were felicitated by the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), an umbrella body of private business community, at a special function organized at Hyatt Regency in Kathmandu on Wednesday (April 9). At the function, their Majesties met with a number of FNCCI functionaries. Crown Prince Paras and Crown Princess Himani were also present on the occasion. Binod Bahadur Shrestha, acting president of FNCCI, read the felicitation letter on behalf of the industrialists and businesspersons. The letter of felicitation says that the founder of Nepal, the late King Prithvi Narayan Shah and his descendants have run the affairs of state in accordance with popular wishes and as per the democratic norm. Nepal's history shows that monarchy and democracy are like two faces of the same coin. This can be attributed to the continued existence of national unity and sovereignty, the letter states.

THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB) is to provide development loan worth $321 million to Nepal for the year 2004-2006. Dr. Richard Vokes, country director of the ADB Nepal Resident Mission, said that the lending would be fully consistent with the Nepal government's poverty reduction strategy, as set out in the Tenth Plan. It will, in particular, address the needs of conflict-affected areas and disadvantaged groups, he said. The proposed ADB loan was announced following the conclusion of ADB's annual country programming mission, which was in Kathmandu from March 31 to April 10. The mission had held consultations with the government, private sector organizations, NGOs and Nepal's other development partners to agree upon and prioritize proposed support over the period of 2004-2006. According to Dr. Vokes, the aid total of $321 million corresponds with the yearly average of $107 million.

THE NEPAL TELECOMMUNICATION Corporation (NTC) — the state-owned monopoly ñ has announced that it will launch pre-paid mobile phones within May with the objective to ensure even middle class families could afford it. According to NTC source, it is planning to launch the pre-paid service in cities like Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Pokhara, Hetauda, Bharatpur, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi. To avail of the pre-paid service, one has to first buy the mobile set, pay Rs 500 as ownership tax and buy simcards that cost Rs 500, according to Keshav Bahadur Shah, general manager of NTC. The simcards need to be re-charged whenever the allotted numbers of calls are made. Initially, NTC plans to distribute pre-paid mobile services to 40,000 individuals.

THE ELECTION COMMISSION (EC) WILL prepare a new updated list of voters from the Kathmandu Metropolis Corporation (KMC) by August this year. "The enumerators and other officials concerned will be sent to the field from the start of the new year 2060 B.S.," said Sri Batsa Ghimire, an undersecretary at the EC. The first draft of the voters' list will be published by mid-June and necessary changes to the draft will be done within two weeks. The second draft is planned to be published by mid July. Citizens will be given two weeks time to file complaints and the final draft of the voters' list is scheduled to be published by August.

THE NEPAL ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY (NEA) is preparing to bring down the price of electricity to encourage the use of electricity for domestic purposes. The NEA is doing homework to adjust the prices so that cooking food in electricity becomes cheaper than using cooking gas. "Now the price of electricity will come down. It will be cheaper than using cooking gas," said Deepak Gyawali, Minister for Water Resources. The NEA had been working at the policy of replacing the cooking gas with its surplus electricity in the domestic household consumption ever since the 144 MW-strong Kali Gandaki A project came in operation. At present, the cooking gas worth Rs 250 million is consumed every month in the country and the government has been losing millions in the subsidy provided in its cost.

DUE TO THE CURRENT PEACEFUL atmosphere in the country, the volume of domestic tourists visiting Pokhara has grown considerably, according to tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara. "These days most of the hotels are filled with Nepalese tourists," said Bikal Tulachan, treasurer of Hotel Association of Nepal ñ Pokhara. The domestic tourists who came to celebrate the Nepalese New Year also included a large number of newly wed couples. Pokhara is also observing "Jaun Hai Pokhara" (Lets Go To Pokhara) campaign to boost internal tourism. The campaign expects to attract 50,000 domestic tourists in one year. The city attracts more than one hundred thousand foreign tourists in one year including 30,000 Indians.