West Seti Nears Financial Closure
The process of “financial closure” for the 750 MW West Seti hydropower project is nearing its final stages. A meeting of the shareholders held recently has decided to offer three Chinese banks the opportunity to lend for the project. Indian company Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (ILFS), which is one of the shareholders in the company, has also shown an interest in lending to the project, informed a company source.
According to Himalaya Pandey, director of the company promoted by Australia ’s Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC), the three Chinese banks (the Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , and China Exim Bank) are preparing financial and legal documents for financial closure and this process may take two to three months. Currently a due diligence report is being prepared, he said.
According to him, SMEC will own 26 per cent shares in the company while the Nepali government will own 15 per cent. The Chinese government-owned China National Machinery Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CMEC) and India ’s ILFS will own 15 per cent shares each. Nepali banks and finance companies will invest 14 per cent through bonds.
For the remaining 15 per cent, the shareholders have agreed to reserve it for lenders.
India ’s power trading company PTC India Ltd. has already signed a power purchase agreement for the project to be completed in five-and-a-half years at a total project cost estimated to be $1,250 million.
Pre-retirement Training for Government Employees Mooted
Realising that the talent and experience of retired government workers is being wasted, the Ministry of General Administration is preparing a new regulation. According to Yuba Raj Pandey, secretary in the Ministry of General Administration, the responsibility for making preliminary preparations for these rules has been entrusted to the association of retired government employees led by former secretary Ram Binod Bhattarai. Its members are former officers of the government.
One of the ideas under consideration is to provide special training to the employees six months ahead of their scheduled retirement date so that they will be able to engage in various creative activities after retirement. This is being contemplated to be implemented first at the officers’ level and later also at lower levels.
Similarly, yoga is proposed to be made compulsory for the employees so that the present lethargy can be reduced.
Flying Squads Sent Out to Check Smuggling
Five 3special flying squads have been formed to check smuggling and other irregularities at the Customs and other tax collection centers.
The country is divided into five zones and each zone is assigned one squad. According to Acting Secretary in Finance Ministry, Rameshwor Khanal, the area between Mechi and Kamala river is one such zone, from Kamala to Narayani river and from Narayani to Rapti river are the second and third zones. Similarly, Rapti to Karnali is the fourth zone and from Karnali and beyond is the fifth zone.
The squads have been assigned to investigate evasion of customs duty, value added tax (VAT), income tax, and excise duties. They have the authority to inspect the customs declaration papers, trucks plying on the roads, warehouses, the books of the firms and other related documents and items.
Khanal said as the smuggling of sugar, fertiliser, cement, and red sandalwood has increased drastically in recent years, the flying squads were formed to check this. He further added that the increase in such smuggling is due also to the displacement of the minor customs points during the Maoist conflict. “After the conflict was over, the fear of the Maoists has diminished and smugglers are using these routes to smuggle goods”, he remarked and informed that work is under progress to restore minor Customs check posts.
According to Khanal, each flying squad will have four to 10 members from the Finance Ministry and the Revenue Investigation department. They will be assisted by the Armed Police Force or the Nepal Police.
Food Grains Production Estimate Reduced
According to preliminary estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, the production of food grains has diminished this year by 327,000 metric tones (4.8 per cent) to 7.329 million metric tonnes.
The decline is said to be because of adverse weather conditions. Also, this year the total area covered by foodgrains has reduced to 3.304 million hectares. This shows a decrease of 1.7 per cent.
The ministry statistics record rice, wheat, corn, millet and barley as foodgrains. Compared to last year, the Ministry estimates that rice production will fall by 12.55 per cent to 3 million 680,000 metric tonnes. The production of millet will fall by 2.1 per cent to 285,000 metric tonnes.
However, compared to the last year, corn production will increase by 5 per cent to reach one million 820,000 metric tonnes. Similarly, the production of wheat will increase by 8.68 per cent to reach one million 515,000 metric tonnes and barley production will increase by 1.35 per cent to reach 28,300 metric tonnes.
Five Courts Selected for Commercial Benches
The Supreme Court has approved the much-awaited proposal to set up commercial Benches in the courts to hear business-related lawsuits. Accordingly, it has selected five Appellate Courts to have such Benches.
The Commercial Benches were needed because Acts like the Company Act, Secured Transactions Act and the Insolvency Act required them. Without these laws the Acts would not have been fully implemented.
Appellate Courts of Patan, Birgunj, Hetauda, Biratnagar and Pokhara will have the Commercial Benches in the first round of the process.
Spot Trading Floor Also at Kuleshwor
Commodities and Metal Exchange Nepal (COMEN) has started a spot trading floor in Kuleshwor of Kathmandu apart from the one in Comen Plaza, Kamaladi. The trading floor will be opened from 3 pm to 7 pm , according to the managing director of COMEN, Dipendra Khatiwada.
According to him, such a trading floor will also be set up in Biratnagar in the future.
Along with the new spot trading floor, COMEN is also operating a clearing warehouse with a capacity of 2,000 tones at Kuleswor, says Khatiwada. Similar clearing warehouse is planned also for Birgunj, according to him.
Transformers to Bhutan
Nepal Ekrat Engineering Company Pvt. Ltd. (NEEK) has restarted supplying power distribution transformers to Bhutan . This year the company has so far supplied transformers worth Rs. 15.35 million. Last year this figure was Rs. 23.18 million.
Similarly the company is also preparing to export its product to India . According to the company's Administration Director, Binod Upadhaya, the company has sent two transformers worth Rs. 992,000 to India for test marketing.
Law Drafted to Control Banking Crimes
The government is preparing to legislate a special law to control crimes related to the banking and financial sectors. The draft Bill prepared by the Finance Ministry after consultations with experts is learnt to have reached the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
The Bill is learnt to be focused on the crimes committed in the private sector banks. Under the existing laws, corruption cases can be initiated only in government banks.
Nokia Enters Nepal Officially
Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile devices and world leader in mobility solutions and services, has entered the Nepali market by appointing authorized distributors and offering to work together with the government to control grey imports of mobile telephone sets and accessories.
Though Nokia handsets and accessories have been available in Nepal for several years, there was no authorized distributor appointed and most of the Nokia products are believed to be imported by avoiding customs.
The newly appointed authorized dealers in Nepal are Golchha Organisation’s member Neoteric Nepal and Vishal Group’s member Paramount Electronics.
During the inauguration of the authorized dealership, Prem Prakash Chand, Nokia’s General Manager for Emerging Asia (which includes Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives), quoted a recent industry research and said, GDP of a country increases 0.6 percent with every 10 percent increase in mobile penetration.
Chevrolet Aveo U-VA
It may be the growing craze of Nepalis after compact cars and the same case may apply to other car brands. However, the honchos at Vijaya Motors are jubilant that the hatchback Chevrolet Aveo U-VA launched in Nepal in April has sold 25 units within the month.
The reason behind the popularity of the new five-door car launched in India in January, according to Suren K Bardewa, Sales and After Sales Manager of Vijay Motors, is the uniqueness of its features.
One is the spacious interior despite its small size making it easily maneuverable on the narrow roads of Nepal while making it the perfect car for a family of five.
Bardewa claims that the ground clearance of the vehicle (185 mm) is the highest among the competition so the car will be very useful on the rough roads here. This is one of the features redesigned to suit the local conditions of Nepal and India , he says. Other such redesigned features, according to him, are reinforced suspension, improved air-conditioning and full chrome headlamps.
Designed in Italdesign of Turin, Italy, U-VA has also received some international awards including the Best Car for the Bucks from Forbes.com and Inter-American Car of the Year from the Intern-American Federation of Automotive Journalists, to name a few. The company is also offering a warranty of three years or a 100,000 kilometres. It will also provide free servicing for three years.
U-VA will be followed by the launch of Cherry Spark soon, says Bardewa.
Santro Xing with LCD TV
Nepali marketers of Hyundai vehicles have come up with a new offer to their customers who buy Hyundai’s compact car Santro Xing. According to a press release from AVCO International (Pvt.) Ltd., sole distributor of Hyundai Vehicles for Nepal and Deep Laxmi Intercontinental (Pvt.) Ltd., authorized dealer of Hyundai Vehicles, the buyers of Xing in Kathmandu Valley will get one Samsung LCD TV free of cost.
Added to it is a three-year or 36,000 KM warranty plus three year free service.
The scheme will be valid for limited period only, informed Nirakar Shrestha , MD of Deep Laxmi Intercontinental.
Swiss Watches
Time World has started making available in Nepal stylish watches from Victorinox Swiss Army, the manufacturers of original Swiss Army Knives.
According to the company, available in Nepal now are different models of medium range Victorinox Swiss Army watches including mechanical chronograph (Ambassador Mechanical and Ambassador XL) and analog quartz movements. The latter include Vivante (a collection for women), Night Vision and Officer’s 1884 (rectangle). Designed specially for sports and casual wear, these watches are claimed to be the largest selling Swiss watches in USA . In Nepal , they are available in premium outlets in Kathmandu and Pokhara and priced in the range of Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 50,000 targeting the youth customers, according to the company.
