August 6: The price of green vegetables in Kathmandu has skyrocketed since the last three weeks.…
August 6: The price of green vegetables in Kathmandu has skyrocketed since the last three weeks.…
August 6: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank shows that most of the businesses and industries of Nepal were badly affected by the four-month long lockdown imposed by the government on March 24 to stem the spread of…
August 6: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a new modality for the upcoming election.…
…
August 5: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has reportedly approved 48 daily flights of various airlines for domestic flights from August 17.…
August 5: Traders and businessmen of Raxaul, which lies across the border in India, from Birgunj, are facing a hard time paying their rent and salary to the staffers.…
August 5: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11 grams approximately) for the first time in the…
August 5: Work progress of P1 projects, which fall under the first priority of the Department of Roads (DoR), remained dismal in the last fiscal year.…
August 5: Health experts have suggested the government to take the issue of coronavirus seriously as the infection has been spreading rapidly after the government lifted the…
August 5: The Department of Transportation Management (DoTM) has suspended distribution of driving license from all four offices within the Kathmandu Valley.…
August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has given permission to 23 tankers to transport aviation fuel by ignoring its own bylaws.…
August 4: The price of gold has reached Rs 99,800 per tola (11 grams approximately).…
August 4: It has been two weeks since the government lifted lockdown, but the flow of loan from banks has not seen any significant improvement.…
August 4: International and domestic airline companies have started gearing up to resume their service after the government decided to lift the ban of air service from August 17.…
August 4: The government has appointed engineer Sushil Bhatta as the CEO of Investment Board…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 6: The price of green vegetables in Kathmandu has skyrocketed since the last three weeks. According to the daily price list of Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Development Board (KFVDB), the price of vegetables in the last three weeks has increased by 250 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Middlemen have taken advantage of ineffective monitoring by the government and increased the price on the pretext of rainy season.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The price of small tomatoes, which was being sold at Rs 12 per kg on July 16, has now increased by 250 percent to Rs 42. Beans are now priced at Rs 115, which is an increase of 203 percent from Rs 38. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Likewise, the price of potato has increased by 31 percent from Rs 51 to Rs 68 per kg. The price of bitter gourd is Rs 45, which is an increase of 80 percent from Rs 25. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Madhav Timilsina, president of Consumer Rights Investigation Forum views that the price of vegetables has increased due to the inability of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection Management (DoCSM) to effectively monitor the market. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the superficial monitoring would not stop the price hike. Timilsina added that all three levels of government should coordinate and take steps to reduce the unnecessary price hike by reducing the influence of middlemen. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Consumers are forced to buy vegetables at double rate at retail stores compared to the wholesale rate at Kalimati. Consumers complain that despite the huge difference in wholesale and retail price, the authorized body has not done effective monitoring. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The DoCSM claims to have been constantly monitoring the market. Director General of the department Netra Prasad Subedi said that they are monitoring the market and if the traders are found to have increased the price arbitrarily, then action will be taken against them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The KFVDB has not put the retail price in its daily price list which has allowed the retailers to set price arbitrarily. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12029', 'image' => '20200806125217_1595453904.Clipboard03.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 12:51:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12280', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'One Fourth of Workers Laid Off During Lockdown: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 6: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank shows that most of the businesses and industries of Nepal were badly affected by the four-month long lockdown imposed by the government on March 24 to stem the spread of coronavirus.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 6: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank shows that most of the businesses and industries of Nepal were badly affected by the four-month long lockdown imposed by the government on March 24 to stem the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A survey report on impact of Covid-19 on economy unveiled by the central bank on Wednesday (August 5) states that the businesses houses and industries of Nepal laid off almost one fourth of their employees during the lockdown period. The employers were also held accountable for pay-cuts of 18.2 percent in average, according to the report.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">During the lockdown, only four percent of industries and businesses were fully operational while 35 percent remained partially open. According to the report, 61 percent of industries and businesses were completely shut during the lockdown period. Sectors ranging from education and hotel industry to real estate business and public transportation remained closed during lockdown.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Agriculture, communication and health sectors remained fully operational during the lockdown while mining activities, production of food, distribution of cooking gas, drinking water and other related industries remained partially opened.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank had conducted the survey from June 8 to 24 in 52 districts involving 674 industries and businesses included in the National Economic Census except the banking and insurance sectors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The report states that an average of 22.5 percent of workers were laid off during the lockdown. Seventy percent of those workers were working on contract basis. Gas industries, wholesale and retail businesses, construction companies, and productive sector as well as media were responsible for most of the layoffs, the report states. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, hotels and restaurants were the ones responsible for maximum pay-cuts. The hotel and hospitality industry had reduced the salary of their staffers by 36.4 percent followed by transportation sector (31.2 percent) and education sector (21.1 percent).</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12028', 'image' => '20200806115609_1595453970.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 11:54:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12282', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI forms Committee to Decide on Election Modality ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 6: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a new modality for the upcoming election. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 6: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a new modality for the upcoming election. A virtual meeting of the executive committee of FNCCI on Wednesday (August 5) decided to prepare a new modality within 15 days to hold the election amid risk of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The committee includes executive members of FNCCI Ranjit Acharya, Bharat Acharya, Sunil Gopal Shrestha, Arun Sumargi, Binod Dhakal and DB Basnet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The committee has been mandated to prepare a modality to hold the election of FNCCI amid coronavirus pandemic. The committee will hold discussions with experts on whether to hold election through electronic means or to go ahead with regular election process by maintaining physical distance between the voters. FNCCI can either opt for electronic voting or get permission from the government to hold direct election, informed FNCCI executive committee member Krishna Prasad Dulal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">FNCCI was supposed to hold its 45<sup>th</sup> general convention on April 10-11 and hand over the responsibility of the federation to Senior Vice President Shekhar Golchha. But that has been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. FNCCI had decided to postpone the general convention in mid-March considering the risk of coronavirus. The government then imposed a lockdown on March 24, following which the election became uncertain. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">An executive committee meeting of FNCCI last month decided to hold the general convention on August 10-11. Although the government lifted the lockdown on July 23, it has not lifted ban on mass gathering.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12027', 'image' => '20200806015948_1596664450.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 13:58:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12277', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Agencies Purchasing Logistics without Competitive Bids', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => '', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: The trend of government agencies purchasing logistics by disregarding the public procurement laws and competitive bidding process is flourishing in the recent days.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government’s audit reports clearly indicates that ministry of physical infrastructure, urban development ministry, energy ministry and ministry of water resource and their subordinate units have been flouting financial fair play during the procurement process. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Section 8 (2) of the Public Procurement Act 2063 mentions that government bodies cannot purchase logistics by limiting the number of competitors and dividing the deal into smaller parts. But the government bodies have been found making procurements by disregarding this legal provision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The 57<sup>th</sup> annual report of the Office of the Auditor General states that the government made purchase of logistics and signed deals for infrastructure development worth Rs 72.13 billion without any competitive bidding process within one-year period. Altogether 35 government agencies were involved in such shady deals ranging from construction of government buildings, maintenance and repair, procurement of logistics among others. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the Public Procurement Act, the government has to issue tender bids for any purchase above Rs 2 million. However, the government agencies were found making purchase of less than Rs 2 million multiple times, the report states.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Altogether 116 government agencies were found purchasing logistics worth Rs 2.5 billion without any competitive bids, the 56<sup>th</sup> annual report says. Such practice was limited to deals worth Rs 1.4 billion in the previous year, says the 55<sup>th</sup> annual report.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12026', 'image' => '20200805012638_1596579646.mlp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:25:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12279', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Underway for 48 Domestic Flights Per Day ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has reportedly approved 48 daily flights of various airlines for domestic flights from August 17. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 5: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has reportedly approved 48 daily flights of various airlines for domestic flights from August 17. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to news reports, CAAN has approved 39 flights in urban areas (trunk routes) and 9 flights for remote areas (stall). As the operation of the flights has been finalised, big domestic airlines including Buddha Air, Yeti Airlines, and Shree Airlines have intensified their preparations for resuming operation by adopting safety measures. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Most of the airlines have already made flight schedules and obtained approval from CAAN. However, CAAN has not yet made public any official decision in this regard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Yograj Kandel Sharma, spokesperson of Airline Operators Association of Nepal, an umbrella organization of domestic airlines companies said that for now, 48 flights on the trunk route have been approved by the authority. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Buddha Air has received approval for 18 flights. Rupesh Joshi, Marketing Director of Buddha Air, said that all the preparations have been made for resuming operation. He informed that Buddha Air has opened ticket booking as per their plan to fly to all destinations. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Another private sector airline, Yeti Airlines has received approval to operate 11 flights. Spokesperson of the airlines Sudarshan Bartaula informed that the staff are being prepared with all kinds of exercise and health caution in line with the government’s health protocols. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Yeti airlines will operate 11 flights initially. The company said that they will gradually add flights depending on the situation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, Shree Airlines, which has received eight flight permit, is also preparing for safe flights. Anil Manandhar, institutional manager of the company, said that all preparations for resuming flights have been made. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Moreover, Sita and Sumit Airlines have received permission for three flights per day while Simrik Airline has received permission to operate two flights a day. The flight for Saurya Airline has not been confirmed as the aircraft of the company is grounded. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12025', 'image' => '20200805015856_nepali_flights.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:58:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12278', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Businessmen in Raxaul Face Heavy Losses due to lack of Customers from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Traders and businessmen of Raxaul, which lies across the border in India, from Birgunj, are facing a hard time paying their rent and salary to the staffers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Devanagari Sangam MN"">August 5: </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Traders and businessmen of Raxaul, which lies across the border in India, from Birgunj, are facing a hard time paying their rent and salary to the staffers. Their business have come to a complete halt after the Nepal-India border was closed to control the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">India’s Bihar state has currently imposed a lockdown due to surge in Covid-19 cases. The border remained closed even when the state government had lifted the lockdown earlier. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Operator of Jaya Nepal CD Showroom in Raxaul, Bimal Agrawal, informed New Business Age that they have not been able to do any business due to the closure of the international border.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">The market of Raxaul is mainly dependent on customers from Nepal. Almost two-thirds of the customers are from Nepal. The businessmen from Raxaul say that they have been bearing huge amount of losses due to the closure of border.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Generally,, customers from Birgunj of Parsa and the nearby rural areas as well as people from Bara, Simara, Jitpur, Makwanpur and Hetauda visit Raxaul for shopping.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“There used to be hundreds of Nepali customers in Raxaul before the lockdown. But the measures to contain coronavirus has had a devastating effect on our business,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“Clothes, food items, utensils and electrical goods are mostly purchased by Nepali customers,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">He added that the businessmen of Bank Road and Lohar Patti have closed their shops after the border was sealed. According to Agrawal, the businessmen were forced to give up their trade after failing to pay the rent and staffers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“The cost of rent and monthly salary of staffers alone reaches anything between IRs 50,000 to IRs 200,000. But we have not been able to sell goods worth Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 per day,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12024', 'image' => '20200805014906_raxualbazar_filephoto.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:48:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12276', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Crosses Rs 100,000 Mark', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11 grams approximately) for the first time in the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11 grams approximately) for the first time in the country. Fine gold in being traded for a record high price of Rs 101,400 per 11 grams, according to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new price on Wednesday (August 5) is an overnight increase of Rs 1600 per 11 grams.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The price of gold in the domestic market on Tuesday was Rs 99,800 per tola. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, silver is being traded for Rs 1295 per 11 grams, Rs 65 up from Rs 1230 per a day ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Gold dealers say that the price of the precious yellow metal is steadily rising due to the high demand for gold in the international market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">It is said that investors are interested in gold to secure their investment in the international market amid risks of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12023', 'image' => '20200805125608_20200804052953_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 12:55:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12275', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dismal Progress of Road Projects in Last FY', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Work progress of P1 projects, which fall under the first priority of the Department of Roads (DoR), remained dismal in the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: Work progress of P1 projects, which fall under the first priority of the Department of Roads (DoR), remained dismal in the last fiscal year. Out of 42 P1 projects under the department, only 6 achieved more than 80 percent work progress during fiscal year 2019/20.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the department, 19 such projects have achieved work progress of 50 to 80 percent while the progress of 17 projects is less than 50 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, the national pride projects have also failed to impress if the work progress in taken into consideration.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The DoR has failed to achieve its target set for national pride projects and other priority projects. The department has blamed coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown as well as half a dozen other reasons for the failure to meet its target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had allocated Rs 127 billion to the department. However, it was able to spend only Rs 69.48 billion, which is 67.29 percent of the total budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the past, the department used to spend over 80 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Spokesperson at the department Shiva Hari Sapkota told New Business Age that they could not meet their target due to the coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the past one year, the department was able to blacktop 729 kilometers of road in the national road network. The department had set a target of blacktopping 1200 kilometers of road during the last fiscal year but was able to achieve only 60.75 percent of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bureaucratic red tape and other hurdles in release of foreign grant and assistance is another major reason for the delay in work completion. Other factors include delay in approval of Environment Impact Assessment, compensation distribution and land acquisition, obstruction by locals demanding more compensation, human resource management for projects handed over to the provincial governments among others.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12022', 'image' => '20200805115301_1596580326.Clipboard13a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 11:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12273', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Health Experts Urge Government to Impose Lockdown and Curfew if Required', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Health experts have suggested the government to take the issue of coronavirus seriously as the infection has been spreading rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: Health experts have suggested the government to take the issue of coronavirus seriously as the infection has been spreading rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The experts warned the government during a meeting with stakeholders at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Baluwatar Tuesday (August 4) that the pandemic is likely to inflict heavy losses if adequate measures are not taken promptly. They urged the government to impose strict measures in places with high rate of infection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">They recommended the government to either adopt strict measures in high-risk areas or to impose lockdown for another two weeks to stem the spread of the deadly disease. They suggested the government to impose curfew if necessary and seal the affected areas completely. They also urged the government not to allow entry of any foreign nationals into the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had lifted the four-month long lockdown imposed on March 24 about two weeks ago. Cases of coronavirus have been increasing rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown. Stating that the coronavirus pandemic would take a dangerous form if the current situation persists, the health experts urged the government to take strict and effective measures to curb the disease. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The experts concluded that the public has not been adopting necessary precautionary measures while the government’s decision to downplay the seriousness of the issue has further heightened the risk of disease transmission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Public health expert Dr Sameer Mani Dixit informed that they suggested the government to adopt strict measures in areas with high rate of infection and to ease the restrictions where the situation is normal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“We have urged the government to impose or lift the restriction considering the situation and the extent of infection in any particular area,” said Dr Dixit, adding that majority of health experts recommended the government to increase the number of tests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Lockdown is the best measure to curb the spread of infection,” he added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Another health expert Dr Rabindra Pandey suggested the government to control the flow of people from infected areas. He also urged the government to ensure that precautionary measures and health standards are met at the formal sector and physical distance maintained at workplace.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Dr Pandey, the prime minister has pledged to discuss the suggestions of the experts at the Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) meeting and the cabinet and then take action accordingly.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12021', 'image' => '20200805095116_1596581375.PS_Ktmjpg2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 09:50:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12274', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'DoTM Suspends Distributing Driving License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Department of Transportation Management (DoTM) has suspended distribution of driving license from all four offices within the Kathmandu Valley. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">August 5: The Department of Transportation Management (DoTM) has suspended distribution of driving license from all four offices within the Kathmandu Valley. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM has cited overcrowding for putting on hold the distribution of driving licenses.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The department said it was not able to manage the crowd despite government’s directive to maintain physical distance among the service seekers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM had started issuing license since mid-June after the government eased the lockdown restriction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif""> An official at the DoTM said that they decided to suspend all activities until the Covid-19 situation improves in the capital. According to the official, such measure was taken due to rise in number of coronavirus cases in Kathmandu Valley after the government lifted the lockdown two weeks ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">With this decision, DoTM offices at Jagati, Ekantakuna, Sukedhara and Thulobharyanag have suspended their services until further notice. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM has also suspended renewal of license. The department has not taken any tests after the government imposed lockdown on March 24.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The department has urged drivers to show the receipt from the office instead of license for the time being.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12020', 'image' => '20200805102819_Smart-Driving-License.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 10:26:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12271', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Gives Permission for Fuel Transport taking Advantage of Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has given permission to 23 tankers to transport aviation fuel by ignoring its own bylaws. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has given permission to 23 tankers to transport aviation fuel by ignoring its own bylaws. It has been learnt that NOC secretly issued permission for the transportation of fuel from Raxaul to Sinamangal by violating the provision of the Petroleum Transportation Regulation 2073. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">With the approval, the state-owned oil monopoly has violated its bylaws. Some entrepreneurs have approached the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) against this decision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">There is a provision in clause 3 of the bylaw that the corporation has to publish a 30-day notice in a national daily regarding an invitation for bid to acquire service from interested individual or company. Last June, the corporation gave permission to the same tankers that were earlier denied permission for not completing the due process. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In 2017, the corporation had given permission to 32 tankers for fuel transport without any notice. However, the corporation itself revoked the permission after Nepal Petroleum Transport Entrepreneurs warned about agitation. The entrepreneurs had approached CIAA at that time as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The entrepreneurs say that the tankers were given permission taking the advantage of lockdown. The corporation has again given the permit without issuing any public notice. A complaint has been filed at the CIAA alleging that the high level officials of the corporation have given approval by taking bribe. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Spokesperson of NOC, Binit Mani Upadhayay said that the temporary permission was given by the Board of Directors. He claimed that the right of way out is in the hands of BOD if there is any difficulty in making and implementing the laws. “The BOD has the right to eliminate obstacles in the formulation and implementation of the bylaws. The approval has been given as per the decision of the board,” he told New Business Age. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12019', 'image' => '20200804040802_1596492171.Clipboard01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 16:07:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12272', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Reaches Rs 99,800 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The price of gold has reached Rs 99,800 per tola (11 grams approximately). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: The price of gold has reached Rs 99,800 per tola (11 grams approximately). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the price of gold remained stable on Monday, it increased by Rs 300 per 11 grams to reach an all-time high of Rs 99,800.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Federation of Nepalese Gold and Silver Dealers Association on Tuesday (August 4) confirmed the increase in price of gold. According to the federation, fine gold is being traded for Rs 99,800 in the Nepalese market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, silver is being traded for Rs 1230 per 11 grams.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Gold dealers said that the price of the precious yellow metal is steadily rising due to the high demand for gold in the international market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">It is said that investors are interested in gold to secure their investment in the international market amid risks of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12018', 'image' => '20200804052953_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 17:29:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12270', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Struggle to Lend Despite Adequate Capital', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: It has been two weeks since the government lifted lockdown, but the flow of loan from banks has not seen any significant improvement. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: It has been two weeks since the government lifted lockdown, but the flow of loan from banks has not seen any significant improvement. Although the banks have lowered the rate of interest, very few customers have visited the banks seeking new loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Commercial banks had availed loan of Rs 86 billion between mid-June to mid-July. But they have been able to lend only Rs 36.95 billion as of July end during the last 15 days of the month. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">All 27 commercial banks of the country are yet to recover a total loan of Rs 2903 billion as of mid-July 2020. The outstanding loan has dropped to Rs 2866.05 billion as of July end.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the flow of loan from banks has dropped significantly, there has been an increase in deposits of late. During mid-June to mid-July, commercial banks collected deposits worth Rs 129 billion. The collection of deposits dropped to Rs 490 million in the last 15 days of July. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The total deposits of all the commercial banks was Rs 3219 billion as of mid-May 2020, which increased to Rs 3294 billion within a month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Of late, banks have been lowering the rate of interest to attract more customers. Since mid-June, banks have been charging interest in single digit after lowering the rate of interest by 2 percentage points. They have also announced a scheme to provide relief to the Covid-19 affected individuals and institutions. Despite such steps, there hasn’t been any encouraging development in flow of loans.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12017', 'image' => '20200804031329_1596492776.Clipboard03.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 15:12:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12268', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '12 Companies Express Interest to Resume Air Service', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: International and domestic airline companies have started gearing up to resume their service after the government decided to lift the ban of air service from August 17. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: International and domestic airline companies have started gearing up to resume their service after the government decided to lift the ban of air service from August 17. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As of Monday (August 3), 12 airline companies including two from Nepal have presented their proposals to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) for international flights. Similarly, all domestic airline companies have also presented their proposals to the aviation regulatory body of Nepal to resume their business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Commercial flights have been halted since the last five months due to coronavirus pandemic. The government has allowed only emergency flights for rescue operations and medical cargo since imposing lockdown on March 24. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Airlines Corporation – the flag carrier of Nepal - and Himalaya Airlines have showed their interest to resume international flights after the government lifts the restriction from August 17. Other companies willing to restart commercial flights include Indigo Air of India, Air China and China Southern of China, Salam Air of Oman, Jazeera Air of Kuwait, Fly Dubai of the UAE, Malaysian Airlines and Malindo Air of Malaysia, Air Arabia of Saudi Arabia, and Turkish Airlines.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to CAAN, these companies have proposed holding 158 flights per week.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“This figure is expected to rise,” said the source.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The state-owned NAC has proposed conducting 57 flights per week while Turkish Airlines, Air China and China Southern have proposed organising only 1 flight each.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CAAN informed New Business Age that it is yet to decide how much flights will the interested airlines companies will be allowed to conduct. Informed sources said that CAAN is preparing to allow only 25 to 30 percent of flights compared to the pre-lockdown period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The airline operators must adhere to the protocols set by the World Health Organisation and the ICA0. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“We are yet to decide on the frequency of flights and the destinations due to a surge in number of coronavirus cases again,” said CAAN Spokesperson Raj Kumar Chhetri.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12016', 'image' => '20200804122127_1596492326.1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 12:20:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12269', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sushil Bhatta Appointed CEO of Investment Board', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The government has appointed engineer Sushil Bhatta as the CEO of Investment Board Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/Clipboard10%2810%29%281%29.jpg" style="height:284px; width:300px" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: The government has appointed engineer Sushil Bhatta as the CEO of Investment Board Nepal. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday (August 3) decided to appoint Bhatta, who is a member of the National Planning Commission, as CEO of the board,</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The post of CEO at the board was lying vacant after the then CEO Maha Prasad Adhikari was appointed as governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. Besides Bhatta, the names of former member of the Electricity Regulatory Commission Ram Krishna Khatiwada and CEO of Province 1 Investment Authority were also recommended for the post of IBN’s CEO. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A three-member committee headed by Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada was formed to recommend the names for the post of IBN’s CEO. Out of 12 individuals who had filed application to lead the board, the government had shortlisted the applicants after a study conducted by NRB Governor Adhikari.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CEO of National Reconstruction Authority Sushil Gyawali, former secretary Laxmi Bilas Koirala, former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi, former administrator at Citizens Investment Trust Krishna Acharya, former executive director of Special Economic Zones Chandika Bhatta, IBN’s consultant Ashish Gajurel , former CEO of Machhapuchhre Bank Suman Sharma and associate professor at TU Ramesh Chandra Poudel were the other aspirants.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bhatta has more than 15 years of experience in project management and infrastructure development.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12015', 'image' => '20200804124452_20200604020901_IBN.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 12:43:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12281', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prices of Vegetables up by 250 Percent ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 6: The price of green vegetables in Kathmandu has skyrocketed since the last three weeks. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 6: The price of green vegetables in Kathmandu has skyrocketed since the last three weeks. According to the daily price list of Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Development Board (KFVDB), the price of vegetables in the last three weeks has increased by 250 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Middlemen have taken advantage of ineffective monitoring by the government and increased the price on the pretext of rainy season.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The price of small tomatoes, which was being sold at Rs 12 per kg on July 16, has now increased by 250 percent to Rs 42. Beans are now priced at Rs 115, which is an increase of 203 percent from Rs 38. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Likewise, the price of potato has increased by 31 percent from Rs 51 to Rs 68 per kg. The price of bitter gourd is Rs 45, which is an increase of 80 percent from Rs 25. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Madhav Timilsina, president of Consumer Rights Investigation Forum views that the price of vegetables has increased due to the inability of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection Management (DoCSM) to effectively monitor the market. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the superficial monitoring would not stop the price hike. Timilsina added that all three levels of government should coordinate and take steps to reduce the unnecessary price hike by reducing the influence of middlemen. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Consumers are forced to buy vegetables at double rate at retail stores compared to the wholesale rate at Kalimati. Consumers complain that despite the huge difference in wholesale and retail price, the authorized body has not done effective monitoring. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The DoCSM claims to have been constantly monitoring the market. Director General of the department Netra Prasad Subedi said that they are monitoring the market and if the traders are found to have increased the price arbitrarily, then action will be taken against them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The KFVDB has not put the retail price in its daily price list which has allowed the retailers to set price arbitrarily. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12029', 'image' => '20200806125217_1595453904.Clipboard03.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 12:51:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12280', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'One Fourth of Workers Laid Off During Lockdown: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 6: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank shows that most of the businesses and industries of Nepal were badly affected by the four-month long lockdown imposed by the government on March 24 to stem the spread of coronavirus.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 6: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank shows that most of the businesses and industries of Nepal were badly affected by the four-month long lockdown imposed by the government on March 24 to stem the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A survey report on impact of Covid-19 on economy unveiled by the central bank on Wednesday (August 5) states that the businesses houses and industries of Nepal laid off almost one fourth of their employees during the lockdown period. The employers were also held accountable for pay-cuts of 18.2 percent in average, according to the report.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">During the lockdown, only four percent of industries and businesses were fully operational while 35 percent remained partially open. According to the report, 61 percent of industries and businesses were completely shut during the lockdown period. Sectors ranging from education and hotel industry to real estate business and public transportation remained closed during lockdown.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Agriculture, communication and health sectors remained fully operational during the lockdown while mining activities, production of food, distribution of cooking gas, drinking water and other related industries remained partially opened.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank had conducted the survey from June 8 to 24 in 52 districts involving 674 industries and businesses included in the National Economic Census except the banking and insurance sectors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The report states that an average of 22.5 percent of workers were laid off during the lockdown. Seventy percent of those workers were working on contract basis. Gas industries, wholesale and retail businesses, construction companies, and productive sector as well as media were responsible for most of the layoffs, the report states. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, hotels and restaurants were the ones responsible for maximum pay-cuts. The hotel and hospitality industry had reduced the salary of their staffers by 36.4 percent followed by transportation sector (31.2 percent) and education sector (21.1 percent).</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12028', 'image' => '20200806115609_1595453970.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 11:54:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12282', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI forms Committee to Decide on Election Modality ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 6: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a new modality for the upcoming election. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 6: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a new modality for the upcoming election. A virtual meeting of the executive committee of FNCCI on Wednesday (August 5) decided to prepare a new modality within 15 days to hold the election amid risk of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The committee includes executive members of FNCCI Ranjit Acharya, Bharat Acharya, Sunil Gopal Shrestha, Arun Sumargi, Binod Dhakal and DB Basnet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The committee has been mandated to prepare a modality to hold the election of FNCCI amid coronavirus pandemic. The committee will hold discussions with experts on whether to hold election through electronic means or to go ahead with regular election process by maintaining physical distance between the voters. FNCCI can either opt for electronic voting or get permission from the government to hold direct election, informed FNCCI executive committee member Krishna Prasad Dulal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">FNCCI was supposed to hold its 45<sup>th</sup> general convention on April 10-11 and hand over the responsibility of the federation to Senior Vice President Shekhar Golchha. But that has been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. FNCCI had decided to postpone the general convention in mid-March considering the risk of coronavirus. The government then imposed a lockdown on March 24, following which the election became uncertain. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">An executive committee meeting of FNCCI last month decided to hold the general convention on August 10-11. Although the government lifted the lockdown on July 23, it has not lifted ban on mass gathering.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12027', 'image' => '20200806015948_1596664450.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 13:58:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12277', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Agencies Purchasing Logistics without Competitive Bids', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => '', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: The trend of government agencies purchasing logistics by disregarding the public procurement laws and competitive bidding process is flourishing in the recent days.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government’s audit reports clearly indicates that ministry of physical infrastructure, urban development ministry, energy ministry and ministry of water resource and their subordinate units have been flouting financial fair play during the procurement process. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Section 8 (2) of the Public Procurement Act 2063 mentions that government bodies cannot purchase logistics by limiting the number of competitors and dividing the deal into smaller parts. But the government bodies have been found making procurements by disregarding this legal provision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The 57<sup>th</sup> annual report of the Office of the Auditor General states that the government made purchase of logistics and signed deals for infrastructure development worth Rs 72.13 billion without any competitive bidding process within one-year period. Altogether 35 government agencies were involved in such shady deals ranging from construction of government buildings, maintenance and repair, procurement of logistics among others. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the Public Procurement Act, the government has to issue tender bids for any purchase above Rs 2 million. However, the government agencies were found making purchase of less than Rs 2 million multiple times, the report states.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Altogether 116 government agencies were found purchasing logistics worth Rs 2.5 billion without any competitive bids, the 56<sup>th</sup> annual report says. Such practice was limited to deals worth Rs 1.4 billion in the previous year, says the 55<sup>th</sup> annual report.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12026', 'image' => '20200805012638_1596579646.mlp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:25:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12279', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Underway for 48 Domestic Flights Per Day ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has reportedly approved 48 daily flights of various airlines for domestic flights from August 17. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 5: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has reportedly approved 48 daily flights of various airlines for domestic flights from August 17. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to news reports, CAAN has approved 39 flights in urban areas (trunk routes) and 9 flights for remote areas (stall). As the operation of the flights has been finalised, big domestic airlines including Buddha Air, Yeti Airlines, and Shree Airlines have intensified their preparations for resuming operation by adopting safety measures. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Most of the airlines have already made flight schedules and obtained approval from CAAN. However, CAAN has not yet made public any official decision in this regard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Yograj Kandel Sharma, spokesperson of Airline Operators Association of Nepal, an umbrella organization of domestic airlines companies said that for now, 48 flights on the trunk route have been approved by the authority. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Buddha Air has received approval for 18 flights. Rupesh Joshi, Marketing Director of Buddha Air, said that all the preparations have been made for resuming operation. He informed that Buddha Air has opened ticket booking as per their plan to fly to all destinations. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Another private sector airline, Yeti Airlines has received approval to operate 11 flights. Spokesperson of the airlines Sudarshan Bartaula informed that the staff are being prepared with all kinds of exercise and health caution in line with the government’s health protocols. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Yeti airlines will operate 11 flights initially. The company said that they will gradually add flights depending on the situation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, Shree Airlines, which has received eight flight permit, is also preparing for safe flights. Anil Manandhar, institutional manager of the company, said that all preparations for resuming flights have been made. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Moreover, Sita and Sumit Airlines have received permission for three flights per day while Simrik Airline has received permission to operate two flights a day. The flight for Saurya Airline has not been confirmed as the aircraft of the company is grounded. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12025', 'image' => '20200805015856_nepali_flights.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:58:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12278', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Businessmen in Raxaul Face Heavy Losses due to lack of Customers from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Traders and businessmen of Raxaul, which lies across the border in India, from Birgunj, are facing a hard time paying their rent and salary to the staffers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Devanagari Sangam MN"">August 5: </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Traders and businessmen of Raxaul, which lies across the border in India, from Birgunj, are facing a hard time paying their rent and salary to the staffers. Their business have come to a complete halt after the Nepal-India border was closed to control the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">India’s Bihar state has currently imposed a lockdown due to surge in Covid-19 cases. The border remained closed even when the state government had lifted the lockdown earlier. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Operator of Jaya Nepal CD Showroom in Raxaul, Bimal Agrawal, informed New Business Age that they have not been able to do any business due to the closure of the international border.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">The market of Raxaul is mainly dependent on customers from Nepal. Almost two-thirds of the customers are from Nepal. The businessmen from Raxaul say that they have been bearing huge amount of losses due to the closure of border.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Generally,, customers from Birgunj of Parsa and the nearby rural areas as well as people from Bara, Simara, Jitpur, Makwanpur and Hetauda visit Raxaul for shopping.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“There used to be hundreds of Nepali customers in Raxaul before the lockdown. But the measures to contain coronavirus has had a devastating effect on our business,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“Clothes, food items, utensils and electrical goods are mostly purchased by Nepali customers,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">He added that the businessmen of Bank Road and Lohar Patti have closed their shops after the border was sealed. According to Agrawal, the businessmen were forced to give up their trade after failing to pay the rent and staffers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“The cost of rent and monthly salary of staffers alone reaches anything between IRs 50,000 to IRs 200,000. But we have not been able to sell goods worth Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 per day,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12024', 'image' => '20200805014906_raxualbazar_filephoto.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:48:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12276', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Crosses Rs 100,000 Mark', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11 grams approximately) for the first time in the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11 grams approximately) for the first time in the country. Fine gold in being traded for a record high price of Rs 101,400 per 11 grams, according to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new price on Wednesday (August 5) is an overnight increase of Rs 1600 per 11 grams.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The price of gold in the domestic market on Tuesday was Rs 99,800 per tola. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, silver is being traded for Rs 1295 per 11 grams, Rs 65 up from Rs 1230 per a day ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Gold dealers say that the price of the precious yellow metal is steadily rising due to the high demand for gold in the international market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">It is said that investors are interested in gold to secure their investment in the international market amid risks of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12023', 'image' => '20200805125608_20200804052953_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 12:55:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12275', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dismal Progress of Road Projects in Last FY', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Work progress of P1 projects, which fall under the first priority of the Department of Roads (DoR), remained dismal in the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: Work progress of P1 projects, which fall under the first priority of the Department of Roads (DoR), remained dismal in the last fiscal year. Out of 42 P1 projects under the department, only 6 achieved more than 80 percent work progress during fiscal year 2019/20.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the department, 19 such projects have achieved work progress of 50 to 80 percent while the progress of 17 projects is less than 50 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, the national pride projects have also failed to impress if the work progress in taken into consideration.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The DoR has failed to achieve its target set for national pride projects and other priority projects. The department has blamed coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown as well as half a dozen other reasons for the failure to meet its target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had allocated Rs 127 billion to the department. However, it was able to spend only Rs 69.48 billion, which is 67.29 percent of the total budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the past, the department used to spend over 80 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Spokesperson at the department Shiva Hari Sapkota told New Business Age that they could not meet their target due to the coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the past one year, the department was able to blacktop 729 kilometers of road in the national road network. The department had set a target of blacktopping 1200 kilometers of road during the last fiscal year but was able to achieve only 60.75 percent of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bureaucratic red tape and other hurdles in release of foreign grant and assistance is another major reason for the delay in work completion. Other factors include delay in approval of Environment Impact Assessment, compensation distribution and land acquisition, obstruction by locals demanding more compensation, human resource management for projects handed over to the provincial governments among others.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12022', 'image' => '20200805115301_1596580326.Clipboard13a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 11:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12273', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Health Experts Urge Government to Impose Lockdown and Curfew if Required', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Health experts have suggested the government to take the issue of coronavirus seriously as the infection has been spreading rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: Health experts have suggested the government to take the issue of coronavirus seriously as the infection has been spreading rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The experts warned the government during a meeting with stakeholders at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Baluwatar Tuesday (August 4) that the pandemic is likely to inflict heavy losses if adequate measures are not taken promptly. They urged the government to impose strict measures in places with high rate of infection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">They recommended the government to either adopt strict measures in high-risk areas or to impose lockdown for another two weeks to stem the spread of the deadly disease. They suggested the government to impose curfew if necessary and seal the affected areas completely. They also urged the government not to allow entry of any foreign nationals into the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had lifted the four-month long lockdown imposed on March 24 about two weeks ago. Cases of coronavirus have been increasing rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown. Stating that the coronavirus pandemic would take a dangerous form if the current situation persists, the health experts urged the government to take strict and effective measures to curb the disease. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The experts concluded that the public has not been adopting necessary precautionary measures while the government’s decision to downplay the seriousness of the issue has further heightened the risk of disease transmission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Public health expert Dr Sameer Mani Dixit informed that they suggested the government to adopt strict measures in areas with high rate of infection and to ease the restrictions where the situation is normal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“We have urged the government to impose or lift the restriction considering the situation and the extent of infection in any particular area,” said Dr Dixit, adding that majority of health experts recommended the government to increase the number of tests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Lockdown is the best measure to curb the spread of infection,” he added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Another health expert Dr Rabindra Pandey suggested the government to control the flow of people from infected areas. He also urged the government to ensure that precautionary measures and health standards are met at the formal sector and physical distance maintained at workplace.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Dr Pandey, the prime minister has pledged to discuss the suggestions of the experts at the Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) meeting and the cabinet and then take action accordingly.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12021', 'image' => '20200805095116_1596581375.PS_Ktmjpg2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 09:50:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12274', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'DoTM Suspends Distributing Driving License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Department of Transportation Management (DoTM) has suspended distribution of driving license from all four offices within the Kathmandu Valley. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">August 5: The Department of Transportation Management (DoTM) has suspended distribution of driving license from all four offices within the Kathmandu Valley. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM has cited overcrowding for putting on hold the distribution of driving licenses.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The department said it was not able to manage the crowd despite government’s directive to maintain physical distance among the service seekers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM had started issuing license since mid-June after the government eased the lockdown restriction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif""> An official at the DoTM said that they decided to suspend all activities until the Covid-19 situation improves in the capital. According to the official, such measure was taken due to rise in number of coronavirus cases in Kathmandu Valley after the government lifted the lockdown two weeks ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">With this decision, DoTM offices at Jagati, Ekantakuna, Sukedhara and Thulobharyanag have suspended their services until further notice. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM has also suspended renewal of license. The department has not taken any tests after the government imposed lockdown on March 24.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The department has urged drivers to show the receipt from the office instead of license for the time being.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12020', 'image' => '20200805102819_Smart-Driving-License.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 10:26:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12271', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Gives Permission for Fuel Transport taking Advantage of Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has given permission to 23 tankers to transport aviation fuel by ignoring its own bylaws. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has given permission to 23 tankers to transport aviation fuel by ignoring its own bylaws. It has been learnt that NOC secretly issued permission for the transportation of fuel from Raxaul to Sinamangal by violating the provision of the Petroleum Transportation Regulation 2073. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">With the approval, the state-owned oil monopoly has violated its bylaws. Some entrepreneurs have approached the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) against this decision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">There is a provision in clause 3 of the bylaw that the corporation has to publish a 30-day notice in a national daily regarding an invitation for bid to acquire service from interested individual or company. Last June, the corporation gave permission to the same tankers that were earlier denied permission for not completing the due process. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In 2017, the corporation had given permission to 32 tankers for fuel transport without any notice. However, the corporation itself revoked the permission after Nepal Petroleum Transport Entrepreneurs warned about agitation. The entrepreneurs had approached CIAA at that time as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The entrepreneurs say that the tankers were given permission taking the advantage of lockdown. The corporation has again given the permit without issuing any public notice. A complaint has been filed at the CIAA alleging that the high level officials of the corporation have given approval by taking bribe. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Spokesperson of NOC, Binit Mani Upadhayay said that the temporary permission was given by the Board of Directors. He claimed that the right of way out is in the hands of BOD if there is any difficulty in making and implementing the laws. “The BOD has the right to eliminate obstacles in the formulation and implementation of the bylaws. The approval has been given as per the decision of the board,” he told New Business Age. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12019', 'image' => '20200804040802_1596492171.Clipboard01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 16:07:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12272', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Reaches Rs 99,800 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The price of gold has reached Rs 99,800 per tola (11 grams approximately). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: The price of gold has reached Rs 99,800 per tola (11 grams approximately). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the price of gold remained stable on Monday, it increased by Rs 300 per 11 grams to reach an all-time high of Rs 99,800.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Federation of Nepalese Gold and Silver Dealers Association on Tuesday (August 4) confirmed the increase in price of gold. According to the federation, fine gold is being traded for Rs 99,800 in the Nepalese market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, silver is being traded for Rs 1230 per 11 grams.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Gold dealers said that the price of the precious yellow metal is steadily rising due to the high demand for gold in the international market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">It is said that investors are interested in gold to secure their investment in the international market amid risks of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12018', 'image' => '20200804052953_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 17:29:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12270', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Struggle to Lend Despite Adequate Capital', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: It has been two weeks since the government lifted lockdown, but the flow of loan from banks has not seen any significant improvement. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: It has been two weeks since the government lifted lockdown, but the flow of loan from banks has not seen any significant improvement. Although the banks have lowered the rate of interest, very few customers have visited the banks seeking new loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Commercial banks had availed loan of Rs 86 billion between mid-June to mid-July. But they have been able to lend only Rs 36.95 billion as of July end during the last 15 days of the month. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">All 27 commercial banks of the country are yet to recover a total loan of Rs 2903 billion as of mid-July 2020. The outstanding loan has dropped to Rs 2866.05 billion as of July end.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the flow of loan from banks has dropped significantly, there has been an increase in deposits of late. During mid-June to mid-July, commercial banks collected deposits worth Rs 129 billion. The collection of deposits dropped to Rs 490 million in the last 15 days of July. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The total deposits of all the commercial banks was Rs 3219 billion as of mid-May 2020, which increased to Rs 3294 billion within a month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Of late, banks have been lowering the rate of interest to attract more customers. Since mid-June, banks have been charging interest in single digit after lowering the rate of interest by 2 percentage points. They have also announced a scheme to provide relief to the Covid-19 affected individuals and institutions. Despite such steps, there hasn’t been any encouraging development in flow of loans.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12017', 'image' => '20200804031329_1596492776.Clipboard03.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 15:12:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12268', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '12 Companies Express Interest to Resume Air Service', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: International and domestic airline companies have started gearing up to resume their service after the government decided to lift the ban of air service from August 17. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: International and domestic airline companies have started gearing up to resume their service after the government decided to lift the ban of air service from August 17. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As of Monday (August 3), 12 airline companies including two from Nepal have presented their proposals to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) for international flights. Similarly, all domestic airline companies have also presented their proposals to the aviation regulatory body of Nepal to resume their business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Commercial flights have been halted since the last five months due to coronavirus pandemic. The government has allowed only emergency flights for rescue operations and medical cargo since imposing lockdown on March 24. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Airlines Corporation – the flag carrier of Nepal - and Himalaya Airlines have showed their interest to resume international flights after the government lifts the restriction from August 17. Other companies willing to restart commercial flights include Indigo Air of India, Air China and China Southern of China, Salam Air of Oman, Jazeera Air of Kuwait, Fly Dubai of the UAE, Malaysian Airlines and Malindo Air of Malaysia, Air Arabia of Saudi Arabia, and Turkish Airlines.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to CAAN, these companies have proposed holding 158 flights per week.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“This figure is expected to rise,” said the source.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The state-owned NAC has proposed conducting 57 flights per week while Turkish Airlines, Air China and China Southern have proposed organising only 1 flight each.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CAAN informed New Business Age that it is yet to decide how much flights will the interested airlines companies will be allowed to conduct. Informed sources said that CAAN is preparing to allow only 25 to 30 percent of flights compared to the pre-lockdown period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The airline operators must adhere to the protocols set by the World Health Organisation and the ICA0. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“We are yet to decide on the frequency of flights and the destinations due to a surge in number of coronavirus cases again,” said CAAN Spokesperson Raj Kumar Chhetri.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12016', 'image' => '20200804122127_1596492326.1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 12:20:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12269', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sushil Bhatta Appointed CEO of Investment Board', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The government has appointed engineer Sushil Bhatta as the CEO of Investment Board Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/Clipboard10%2810%29%281%29.jpg" style="height:284px; width:300px" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: The government has appointed engineer Sushil Bhatta as the CEO of Investment Board Nepal. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday (August 3) decided to appoint Bhatta, who is a member of the National Planning Commission, as CEO of the board,</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The post of CEO at the board was lying vacant after the then CEO Maha Prasad Adhikari was appointed as governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. Besides Bhatta, the names of former member of the Electricity Regulatory Commission Ram Krishna Khatiwada and CEO of Province 1 Investment Authority were also recommended for the post of IBN’s CEO. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A three-member committee headed by Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada was formed to recommend the names for the post of IBN’s CEO. Out of 12 individuals who had filed application to lead the board, the government had shortlisted the applicants after a study conducted by NRB Governor Adhikari.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CEO of National Reconstruction Authority Sushil Gyawali, former secretary Laxmi Bilas Koirala, former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi, former administrator at Citizens Investment Trust Krishna Acharya, former executive director of Special Economic Zones Chandika Bhatta, IBN’s consultant Ashish Gajurel , former CEO of Machhapuchhre Bank Suman Sharma and associate professor at TU Ramesh Chandra Poudel were the other aspirants.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bhatta has more than 15 years of experience in project management and infrastructure development.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12015', 'image' => '20200804124452_20200604020901_IBN.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 12:43:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12281', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prices of Vegetables up by 250 Percent ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 6: The price of green vegetables in Kathmandu has skyrocketed since the last three weeks. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 6: The price of green vegetables in Kathmandu has skyrocketed since the last three weeks. According to the daily price list of Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Development Board (KFVDB), the price of vegetables in the last three weeks has increased by 250 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Middlemen have taken advantage of ineffective monitoring by the government and increased the price on the pretext of rainy season.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The price of small tomatoes, which was being sold at Rs 12 per kg on July 16, has now increased by 250 percent to Rs 42. Beans are now priced at Rs 115, which is an increase of 203 percent from Rs 38. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Likewise, the price of potato has increased by 31 percent from Rs 51 to Rs 68 per kg. The price of bitter gourd is Rs 45, which is an increase of 80 percent from Rs 25. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Madhav Timilsina, president of Consumer Rights Investigation Forum views that the price of vegetables has increased due to the inability of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection Management (DoCSM) to effectively monitor the market. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the superficial monitoring would not stop the price hike. Timilsina added that all three levels of government should coordinate and take steps to reduce the unnecessary price hike by reducing the influence of middlemen. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Consumers are forced to buy vegetables at double rate at retail stores compared to the wholesale rate at Kalimati. Consumers complain that despite the huge difference in wholesale and retail price, the authorized body has not done effective monitoring. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The DoCSM claims to have been constantly monitoring the market. Director General of the department Netra Prasad Subedi said that they are monitoring the market and if the traders are found to have increased the price arbitrarily, then action will be taken against them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The KFVDB has not put the retail price in its daily price list which has allowed the retailers to set price arbitrarily. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12029', 'image' => '20200806125217_1595453904.Clipboard03.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 12:51:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12280', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'One Fourth of Workers Laid Off During Lockdown: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 6: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank shows that most of the businesses and industries of Nepal were badly affected by the four-month long lockdown imposed by the government on March 24 to stem the spread of coronavirus.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 6: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank shows that most of the businesses and industries of Nepal were badly affected by the four-month long lockdown imposed by the government on March 24 to stem the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A survey report on impact of Covid-19 on economy unveiled by the central bank on Wednesday (August 5) states that the businesses houses and industries of Nepal laid off almost one fourth of their employees during the lockdown period. The employers were also held accountable for pay-cuts of 18.2 percent in average, according to the report.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">During the lockdown, only four percent of industries and businesses were fully operational while 35 percent remained partially open. According to the report, 61 percent of industries and businesses were completely shut during the lockdown period. Sectors ranging from education and hotel industry to real estate business and public transportation remained closed during lockdown.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Agriculture, communication and health sectors remained fully operational during the lockdown while mining activities, production of food, distribution of cooking gas, drinking water and other related industries remained partially opened.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank had conducted the survey from June 8 to 24 in 52 districts involving 674 industries and businesses included in the National Economic Census except the banking and insurance sectors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The report states that an average of 22.5 percent of workers were laid off during the lockdown. Seventy percent of those workers were working on contract basis. Gas industries, wholesale and retail businesses, construction companies, and productive sector as well as media were responsible for most of the layoffs, the report states. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, hotels and restaurants were the ones responsible for maximum pay-cuts. The hotel and hospitality industry had reduced the salary of their staffers by 36.4 percent followed by transportation sector (31.2 percent) and education sector (21.1 percent).</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12028', 'image' => '20200806115609_1595453970.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 11:54:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12282', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI forms Committee to Decide on Election Modality ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 6: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a new modality for the upcoming election. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 6: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a new modality for the upcoming election. A virtual meeting of the executive committee of FNCCI on Wednesday (August 5) decided to prepare a new modality within 15 days to hold the election amid risk of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The committee includes executive members of FNCCI Ranjit Acharya, Bharat Acharya, Sunil Gopal Shrestha, Arun Sumargi, Binod Dhakal and DB Basnet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The committee has been mandated to prepare a modality to hold the election of FNCCI amid coronavirus pandemic. The committee will hold discussions with experts on whether to hold election through electronic means or to go ahead with regular election process by maintaining physical distance between the voters. FNCCI can either opt for electronic voting or get permission from the government to hold direct election, informed FNCCI executive committee member Krishna Prasad Dulal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">FNCCI was supposed to hold its 45<sup>th</sup> general convention on April 10-11 and hand over the responsibility of the federation to Senior Vice President Shekhar Golchha. But that has been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. FNCCI had decided to postpone the general convention in mid-March considering the risk of coronavirus. The government then imposed a lockdown on March 24, following which the election became uncertain. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">An executive committee meeting of FNCCI last month decided to hold the general convention on August 10-11. Although the government lifted the lockdown on July 23, it has not lifted ban on mass gathering.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12027', 'image' => '20200806015948_1596664450.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 13:58:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12277', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Agencies Purchasing Logistics without Competitive Bids', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => '', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: The trend of government agencies purchasing logistics by disregarding the public procurement laws and competitive bidding process is flourishing in the recent days.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government’s audit reports clearly indicates that ministry of physical infrastructure, urban development ministry, energy ministry and ministry of water resource and their subordinate units have been flouting financial fair play during the procurement process. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Section 8 (2) of the Public Procurement Act 2063 mentions that government bodies cannot purchase logistics by limiting the number of competitors and dividing the deal into smaller parts. But the government bodies have been found making procurements by disregarding this legal provision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The 57<sup>th</sup> annual report of the Office of the Auditor General states that the government made purchase of logistics and signed deals for infrastructure development worth Rs 72.13 billion without any competitive bidding process within one-year period. Altogether 35 government agencies were involved in such shady deals ranging from construction of government buildings, maintenance and repair, procurement of logistics among others. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the Public Procurement Act, the government has to issue tender bids for any purchase above Rs 2 million. However, the government agencies were found making purchase of less than Rs 2 million multiple times, the report states.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Altogether 116 government agencies were found purchasing logistics worth Rs 2.5 billion without any competitive bids, the 56<sup>th</sup> annual report says. Such practice was limited to deals worth Rs 1.4 billion in the previous year, says the 55<sup>th</sup> annual report.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12026', 'image' => '20200805012638_1596579646.mlp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:25:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12279', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Underway for 48 Domestic Flights Per Day ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has reportedly approved 48 daily flights of various airlines for domestic flights from August 17. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 5: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has reportedly approved 48 daily flights of various airlines for domestic flights from August 17. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to news reports, CAAN has approved 39 flights in urban areas (trunk routes) and 9 flights for remote areas (stall). As the operation of the flights has been finalised, big domestic airlines including Buddha Air, Yeti Airlines, and Shree Airlines have intensified their preparations for resuming operation by adopting safety measures. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Most of the airlines have already made flight schedules and obtained approval from CAAN. However, CAAN has not yet made public any official decision in this regard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Yograj Kandel Sharma, spokesperson of Airline Operators Association of Nepal, an umbrella organization of domestic airlines companies said that for now, 48 flights on the trunk route have been approved by the authority. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Buddha Air has received approval for 18 flights. Rupesh Joshi, Marketing Director of Buddha Air, said that all the preparations have been made for resuming operation. He informed that Buddha Air has opened ticket booking as per their plan to fly to all destinations. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Another private sector airline, Yeti Airlines has received approval to operate 11 flights. Spokesperson of the airlines Sudarshan Bartaula informed that the staff are being prepared with all kinds of exercise and health caution in line with the government’s health protocols. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Yeti airlines will operate 11 flights initially. The company said that they will gradually add flights depending on the situation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, Shree Airlines, which has received eight flight permit, is also preparing for safe flights. Anil Manandhar, institutional manager of the company, said that all preparations for resuming flights have been made. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Moreover, Sita and Sumit Airlines have received permission for three flights per day while Simrik Airline has received permission to operate two flights a day. The flight for Saurya Airline has not been confirmed as the aircraft of the company is grounded. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12025', 'image' => '20200805015856_nepali_flights.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:58:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12278', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Businessmen in Raxaul Face Heavy Losses due to lack of Customers from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Traders and businessmen of Raxaul, which lies across the border in India, from Birgunj, are facing a hard time paying their rent and salary to the staffers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Devanagari Sangam MN"">August 5: </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Traders and businessmen of Raxaul, which lies across the border in India, from Birgunj, are facing a hard time paying their rent and salary to the staffers. Their business have come to a complete halt after the Nepal-India border was closed to control the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">India’s Bihar state has currently imposed a lockdown due to surge in Covid-19 cases. The border remained closed even when the state government had lifted the lockdown earlier. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Operator of Jaya Nepal CD Showroom in Raxaul, Bimal Agrawal, informed New Business Age that they have not been able to do any business due to the closure of the international border.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">The market of Raxaul is mainly dependent on customers from Nepal. Almost two-thirds of the customers are from Nepal. The businessmen from Raxaul say that they have been bearing huge amount of losses due to the closure of border.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Generally,, customers from Birgunj of Parsa and the nearby rural areas as well as people from Bara, Simara, Jitpur, Makwanpur and Hetauda visit Raxaul for shopping.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“There used to be hundreds of Nepali customers in Raxaul before the lockdown. But the measures to contain coronavirus has had a devastating effect on our business,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“Clothes, food items, utensils and electrical goods are mostly purchased by Nepali customers,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">He added that the businessmen of Bank Road and Lohar Patti have closed their shops after the border was sealed. According to Agrawal, the businessmen were forced to give up their trade after failing to pay the rent and staffers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“The cost of rent and monthly salary of staffers alone reaches anything between IRs 50,000 to IRs 200,000. But we have not been able to sell goods worth Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 per day,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12024', 'image' => '20200805014906_raxualbazar_filephoto.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:48:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12276', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Crosses Rs 100,000 Mark', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11 grams approximately) for the first time in the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11 grams approximately) for the first time in the country. Fine gold in being traded for a record high price of Rs 101,400 per 11 grams, according to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new price on Wednesday (August 5) is an overnight increase of Rs 1600 per 11 grams.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The price of gold in the domestic market on Tuesday was Rs 99,800 per tola. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, silver is being traded for Rs 1295 per 11 grams, Rs 65 up from Rs 1230 per a day ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Gold dealers say that the price of the precious yellow metal is steadily rising due to the high demand for gold in the international market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">It is said that investors are interested in gold to secure their investment in the international market amid risks of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12023', 'image' => '20200805125608_20200804052953_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 12:55:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12275', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dismal Progress of Road Projects in Last FY', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Work progress of P1 projects, which fall under the first priority of the Department of Roads (DoR), remained dismal in the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: Work progress of P1 projects, which fall under the first priority of the Department of Roads (DoR), remained dismal in the last fiscal year. Out of 42 P1 projects under the department, only 6 achieved more than 80 percent work progress during fiscal year 2019/20.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the department, 19 such projects have achieved work progress of 50 to 80 percent while the progress of 17 projects is less than 50 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, the national pride projects have also failed to impress if the work progress in taken into consideration.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The DoR has failed to achieve its target set for national pride projects and other priority projects. The department has blamed coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown as well as half a dozen other reasons for the failure to meet its target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had allocated Rs 127 billion to the department. However, it was able to spend only Rs 69.48 billion, which is 67.29 percent of the total budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the past, the department used to spend over 80 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Spokesperson at the department Shiva Hari Sapkota told New Business Age that they could not meet their target due to the coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the past one year, the department was able to blacktop 729 kilometers of road in the national road network. The department had set a target of blacktopping 1200 kilometers of road during the last fiscal year but was able to achieve only 60.75 percent of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bureaucratic red tape and other hurdles in release of foreign grant and assistance is another major reason for the delay in work completion. Other factors include delay in approval of Environment Impact Assessment, compensation distribution and land acquisition, obstruction by locals demanding more compensation, human resource management for projects handed over to the provincial governments among others.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12022', 'image' => '20200805115301_1596580326.Clipboard13a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 11:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12273', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Health Experts Urge Government to Impose Lockdown and Curfew if Required', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Health experts have suggested the government to take the issue of coronavirus seriously as the infection has been spreading rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: Health experts have suggested the government to take the issue of coronavirus seriously as the infection has been spreading rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The experts warned the government during a meeting with stakeholders at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Baluwatar Tuesday (August 4) that the pandemic is likely to inflict heavy losses if adequate measures are not taken promptly. They urged the government to impose strict measures in places with high rate of infection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">They recommended the government to either adopt strict measures in high-risk areas or to impose lockdown for another two weeks to stem the spread of the deadly disease. They suggested the government to impose curfew if necessary and seal the affected areas completely. They also urged the government not to allow entry of any foreign nationals into the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had lifted the four-month long lockdown imposed on March 24 about two weeks ago. Cases of coronavirus have been increasing rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown. Stating that the coronavirus pandemic would take a dangerous form if the current situation persists, the health experts urged the government to take strict and effective measures to curb the disease. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The experts concluded that the public has not been adopting necessary precautionary measures while the government’s decision to downplay the seriousness of the issue has further heightened the risk of disease transmission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Public health expert Dr Sameer Mani Dixit informed that they suggested the government to adopt strict measures in areas with high rate of infection and to ease the restrictions where the situation is normal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“We have urged the government to impose or lift the restriction considering the situation and the extent of infection in any particular area,” said Dr Dixit, adding that majority of health experts recommended the government to increase the number of tests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Lockdown is the best measure to curb the spread of infection,” he added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Another health expert Dr Rabindra Pandey suggested the government to control the flow of people from infected areas. He also urged the government to ensure that precautionary measures and health standards are met at the formal sector and physical distance maintained at workplace.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Dr Pandey, the prime minister has pledged to discuss the suggestions of the experts at the Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) meeting and the cabinet and then take action accordingly.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12021', 'image' => '20200805095116_1596581375.PS_Ktmjpg2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 09:50:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12274', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'DoTM Suspends Distributing Driving License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Department of Transportation Management (DoTM) has suspended distribution of driving license from all four offices within the Kathmandu Valley. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">August 5: The Department of Transportation Management (DoTM) has suspended distribution of driving license from all four offices within the Kathmandu Valley. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM has cited overcrowding for putting on hold the distribution of driving licenses.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The department said it was not able to manage the crowd despite government’s directive to maintain physical distance among the service seekers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM had started issuing license since mid-June after the government eased the lockdown restriction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif""> An official at the DoTM said that they decided to suspend all activities until the Covid-19 situation improves in the capital. According to the official, such measure was taken due to rise in number of coronavirus cases in Kathmandu Valley after the government lifted the lockdown two weeks ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">With this decision, DoTM offices at Jagati, Ekantakuna, Sukedhara and Thulobharyanag have suspended their services until further notice. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM has also suspended renewal of license. The department has not taken any tests after the government imposed lockdown on March 24.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The department has urged drivers to show the receipt from the office instead of license for the time being.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12020', 'image' => '20200805102819_Smart-Driving-License.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 10:26:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12271', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Gives Permission for Fuel Transport taking Advantage of Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has given permission to 23 tankers to transport aviation fuel by ignoring its own bylaws. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has given permission to 23 tankers to transport aviation fuel by ignoring its own bylaws. It has been learnt that NOC secretly issued permission for the transportation of fuel from Raxaul to Sinamangal by violating the provision of the Petroleum Transportation Regulation 2073. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">With the approval, the state-owned oil monopoly has violated its bylaws. Some entrepreneurs have approached the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) against this decision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">There is a provision in clause 3 of the bylaw that the corporation has to publish a 30-day notice in a national daily regarding an invitation for bid to acquire service from interested individual or company. Last June, the corporation gave permission to the same tankers that were earlier denied permission for not completing the due process. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In 2017, the corporation had given permission to 32 tankers for fuel transport without any notice. However, the corporation itself revoked the permission after Nepal Petroleum Transport Entrepreneurs warned about agitation. The entrepreneurs had approached CIAA at that time as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The entrepreneurs say that the tankers were given permission taking the advantage of lockdown. The corporation has again given the permit without issuing any public notice. A complaint has been filed at the CIAA alleging that the high level officials of the corporation have given approval by taking bribe. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Spokesperson of NOC, Binit Mani Upadhayay said that the temporary permission was given by the Board of Directors. He claimed that the right of way out is in the hands of BOD if there is any difficulty in making and implementing the laws. “The BOD has the right to eliminate obstacles in the formulation and implementation of the bylaws. The approval has been given as per the decision of the board,” he told New Business Age. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12019', 'image' => '20200804040802_1596492171.Clipboard01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 16:07:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12272', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Reaches Rs 99,800 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The price of gold has reached Rs 99,800 per tola (11 grams approximately). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: The price of gold has reached Rs 99,800 per tola (11 grams approximately). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the price of gold remained stable on Monday, it increased by Rs 300 per 11 grams to reach an all-time high of Rs 99,800.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Federation of Nepalese Gold and Silver Dealers Association on Tuesday (August 4) confirmed the increase in price of gold. According to the federation, fine gold is being traded for Rs 99,800 in the Nepalese market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, silver is being traded for Rs 1230 per 11 grams.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Gold dealers said that the price of the precious yellow metal is steadily rising due to the high demand for gold in the international market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">It is said that investors are interested in gold to secure their investment in the international market amid risks of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12018', 'image' => '20200804052953_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 17:29:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12270', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Struggle to Lend Despite Adequate Capital', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: It has been two weeks since the government lifted lockdown, but the flow of loan from banks has not seen any significant improvement. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: It has been two weeks since the government lifted lockdown, but the flow of loan from banks has not seen any significant improvement. Although the banks have lowered the rate of interest, very few customers have visited the banks seeking new loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Commercial banks had availed loan of Rs 86 billion between mid-June to mid-July. But they have been able to lend only Rs 36.95 billion as of July end during the last 15 days of the month. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">All 27 commercial banks of the country are yet to recover a total loan of Rs 2903 billion as of mid-July 2020. The outstanding loan has dropped to Rs 2866.05 billion as of July end.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the flow of loan from banks has dropped significantly, there has been an increase in deposits of late. During mid-June to mid-July, commercial banks collected deposits worth Rs 129 billion. The collection of deposits dropped to Rs 490 million in the last 15 days of July. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The total deposits of all the commercial banks was Rs 3219 billion as of mid-May 2020, which increased to Rs 3294 billion within a month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Of late, banks have been lowering the rate of interest to attract more customers. Since mid-June, banks have been charging interest in single digit after lowering the rate of interest by 2 percentage points. They have also announced a scheme to provide relief to the Covid-19 affected individuals and institutions. Despite such steps, there hasn’t been any encouraging development in flow of loans.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12017', 'image' => '20200804031329_1596492776.Clipboard03.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 15:12:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12268', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '12 Companies Express Interest to Resume Air Service', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: International and domestic airline companies have started gearing up to resume their service after the government decided to lift the ban of air service from August 17. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: International and domestic airline companies have started gearing up to resume their service after the government decided to lift the ban of air service from August 17. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As of Monday (August 3), 12 airline companies including two from Nepal have presented their proposals to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) for international flights. Similarly, all domestic airline companies have also presented their proposals to the aviation regulatory body of Nepal to resume their business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Commercial flights have been halted since the last five months due to coronavirus pandemic. The government has allowed only emergency flights for rescue operations and medical cargo since imposing lockdown on March 24. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Airlines Corporation – the flag carrier of Nepal - and Himalaya Airlines have showed their interest to resume international flights after the government lifts the restriction from August 17. Other companies willing to restart commercial flights include Indigo Air of India, Air China and China Southern of China, Salam Air of Oman, Jazeera Air of Kuwait, Fly Dubai of the UAE, Malaysian Airlines and Malindo Air of Malaysia, Air Arabia of Saudi Arabia, and Turkish Airlines.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to CAAN, these companies have proposed holding 158 flights per week.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“This figure is expected to rise,” said the source.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The state-owned NAC has proposed conducting 57 flights per week while Turkish Airlines, Air China and China Southern have proposed organising only 1 flight each.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CAAN informed New Business Age that it is yet to decide how much flights will the interested airlines companies will be allowed to conduct. Informed sources said that CAAN is preparing to allow only 25 to 30 percent of flights compared to the pre-lockdown period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The airline operators must adhere to the protocols set by the World Health Organisation and the ICA0. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“We are yet to decide on the frequency of flights and the destinations due to a surge in number of coronavirus cases again,” said CAAN Spokesperson Raj Kumar Chhetri.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12016', 'image' => '20200804122127_1596492326.1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 12:20:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12269', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sushil Bhatta Appointed CEO of Investment Board', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The government has appointed engineer Sushil Bhatta as the CEO of Investment Board Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/Clipboard10%2810%29%281%29.jpg" style="height:284px; width:300px" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: The government has appointed engineer Sushil Bhatta as the CEO of Investment Board Nepal. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday (August 3) decided to appoint Bhatta, who is a member of the National Planning Commission, as CEO of the board,</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The post of CEO at the board was lying vacant after the then CEO Maha Prasad Adhikari was appointed as governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. Besides Bhatta, the names of former member of the Electricity Regulatory Commission Ram Krishna Khatiwada and CEO of Province 1 Investment Authority were also recommended for the post of IBN’s CEO. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A three-member committee headed by Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada was formed to recommend the names for the post of IBN’s CEO. Out of 12 individuals who had filed application to lead the board, the government had shortlisted the applicants after a study conducted by NRB Governor Adhikari.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CEO of National Reconstruction Authority Sushil Gyawali, former secretary Laxmi Bilas Koirala, former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi, former administrator at Citizens Investment Trust Krishna Acharya, former executive director of Special Economic Zones Chandika Bhatta, IBN’s consultant Ashish Gajurel , former CEO of Machhapuchhre Bank Suman Sharma and associate professor at TU Ramesh Chandra Poudel were the other aspirants.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bhatta has more than 15 years of experience in project management and infrastructure development.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12015', 'image' => '20200804124452_20200604020901_IBN.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 12:43:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 6: The price of green vegetables in Kathmandu has skyrocketed since the last three weeks. According to the daily price list of Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Development Board (KFVDB), the price of vegetables in the last three weeks has increased by 250 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Middlemen have taken advantage of ineffective monitoring by the government and increased the price on the pretext of rainy season.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The price of small tomatoes, which was being sold at Rs 12 per kg on July 16, has now increased by 250 percent to Rs 42. Beans are now priced at Rs 115, which is an increase of 203 percent from Rs 38. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Likewise, the price of potato has increased by 31 percent from Rs 51 to Rs 68 per kg. The price of bitter gourd is Rs 45, which is an increase of 80 percent from Rs 25. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Madhav Timilsina, president of Consumer Rights Investigation Forum views that the price of vegetables has increased due to the inability of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection Management (DoCSM) to effectively monitor the market. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the superficial monitoring would not stop the price hike. Timilsina added that all three levels of government should coordinate and take steps to reduce the unnecessary price hike by reducing the influence of middlemen. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Consumers are forced to buy vegetables at double rate at retail stores compared to the wholesale rate at Kalimati. Consumers complain that despite the huge difference in wholesale and retail price, the authorized body has not done effective monitoring. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The DoCSM claims to have been constantly monitoring the market. Director General of the department Netra Prasad Subedi said that they are monitoring the market and if the traders are found to have increased the price arbitrarily, then action will be taken against them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The KFVDB has not put the retail price in its daily price list which has allowed the retailers to set price arbitrarily. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12029', 'image' => '20200806125217_1595453904.Clipboard03.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 12:51:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12280', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'One Fourth of Workers Laid Off During Lockdown: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 6: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank shows that most of the businesses and industries of Nepal were badly affected by the four-month long lockdown imposed by the government on March 24 to stem the spread of coronavirus.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 6: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank shows that most of the businesses and industries of Nepal were badly affected by the four-month long lockdown imposed by the government on March 24 to stem the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A survey report on impact of Covid-19 on economy unveiled by the central bank on Wednesday (August 5) states that the businesses houses and industries of Nepal laid off almost one fourth of their employees during the lockdown period. The employers were also held accountable for pay-cuts of 18.2 percent in average, according to the report.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">During the lockdown, only four percent of industries and businesses were fully operational while 35 percent remained partially open. According to the report, 61 percent of industries and businesses were completely shut during the lockdown period. Sectors ranging from education and hotel industry to real estate business and public transportation remained closed during lockdown.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Agriculture, communication and health sectors remained fully operational during the lockdown while mining activities, production of food, distribution of cooking gas, drinking water and other related industries remained partially opened.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank had conducted the survey from June 8 to 24 in 52 districts involving 674 industries and businesses included in the National Economic Census except the banking and insurance sectors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The report states that an average of 22.5 percent of workers were laid off during the lockdown. Seventy percent of those workers were working on contract basis. Gas industries, wholesale and retail businesses, construction companies, and productive sector as well as media were responsible for most of the layoffs, the report states. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, hotels and restaurants were the ones responsible for maximum pay-cuts. The hotel and hospitality industry had reduced the salary of their staffers by 36.4 percent followed by transportation sector (31.2 percent) and education sector (21.1 percent).</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12028', 'image' => '20200806115609_1595453970.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 11:54:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12282', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI forms Committee to Decide on Election Modality ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 6: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a new modality for the upcoming election. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 6: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a new modality for the upcoming election. A virtual meeting of the executive committee of FNCCI on Wednesday (August 5) decided to prepare a new modality within 15 days to hold the election amid risk of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The committee includes executive members of FNCCI Ranjit Acharya, Bharat Acharya, Sunil Gopal Shrestha, Arun Sumargi, Binod Dhakal and DB Basnet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The committee has been mandated to prepare a modality to hold the election of FNCCI amid coronavirus pandemic. The committee will hold discussions with experts on whether to hold election through electronic means or to go ahead with regular election process by maintaining physical distance between the voters. FNCCI can either opt for electronic voting or get permission from the government to hold direct election, informed FNCCI executive committee member Krishna Prasad Dulal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">FNCCI was supposed to hold its 45<sup>th</sup> general convention on April 10-11 and hand over the responsibility of the federation to Senior Vice President Shekhar Golchha. But that has been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. FNCCI had decided to postpone the general convention in mid-March considering the risk of coronavirus. The government then imposed a lockdown on March 24, following which the election became uncertain. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">An executive committee meeting of FNCCI last month decided to hold the general convention on August 10-11. Although the government lifted the lockdown on July 23, it has not lifted ban on mass gathering.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-06', 'modified' => '2020-08-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12027', 'image' => '20200806015948_1596664450.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-06 13:58:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12277', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Agencies Purchasing Logistics without Competitive Bids', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => '', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: The trend of government agencies purchasing logistics by disregarding the public procurement laws and competitive bidding process is flourishing in the recent days.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government’s audit reports clearly indicates that ministry of physical infrastructure, urban development ministry, energy ministry and ministry of water resource and their subordinate units have been flouting financial fair play during the procurement process. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Section 8 (2) of the Public Procurement Act 2063 mentions that government bodies cannot purchase logistics by limiting the number of competitors and dividing the deal into smaller parts. But the government bodies have been found making procurements by disregarding this legal provision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The 57<sup>th</sup> annual report of the Office of the Auditor General states that the government made purchase of logistics and signed deals for infrastructure development worth Rs 72.13 billion without any competitive bidding process within one-year period. Altogether 35 government agencies were involved in such shady deals ranging from construction of government buildings, maintenance and repair, procurement of logistics among others. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the Public Procurement Act, the government has to issue tender bids for any purchase above Rs 2 million. However, the government agencies were found making purchase of less than Rs 2 million multiple times, the report states.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Altogether 116 government agencies were found purchasing logistics worth Rs 2.5 billion without any competitive bids, the 56<sup>th</sup> annual report says. Such practice was limited to deals worth Rs 1.4 billion in the previous year, says the 55<sup>th</sup> annual report.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12026', 'image' => '20200805012638_1596579646.mlp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:25:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12279', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Underway for 48 Domestic Flights Per Day ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has reportedly approved 48 daily flights of various airlines for domestic flights from August 17. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 5: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has reportedly approved 48 daily flights of various airlines for domestic flights from August 17. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to news reports, CAAN has approved 39 flights in urban areas (trunk routes) and 9 flights for remote areas (stall). As the operation of the flights has been finalised, big domestic airlines including Buddha Air, Yeti Airlines, and Shree Airlines have intensified their preparations for resuming operation by adopting safety measures. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Most of the airlines have already made flight schedules and obtained approval from CAAN. However, CAAN has not yet made public any official decision in this regard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Yograj Kandel Sharma, spokesperson of Airline Operators Association of Nepal, an umbrella organization of domestic airlines companies said that for now, 48 flights on the trunk route have been approved by the authority. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Buddha Air has received approval for 18 flights. Rupesh Joshi, Marketing Director of Buddha Air, said that all the preparations have been made for resuming operation. He informed that Buddha Air has opened ticket booking as per their plan to fly to all destinations. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Another private sector airline, Yeti Airlines has received approval to operate 11 flights. Spokesperson of the airlines Sudarshan Bartaula informed that the staff are being prepared with all kinds of exercise and health caution in line with the government’s health protocols. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Yeti airlines will operate 11 flights initially. The company said that they will gradually add flights depending on the situation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, Shree Airlines, which has received eight flight permit, is also preparing for safe flights. Anil Manandhar, institutional manager of the company, said that all preparations for resuming flights have been made. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Moreover, Sita and Sumit Airlines have received permission for three flights per day while Simrik Airline has received permission to operate two flights a day. The flight for Saurya Airline has not been confirmed as the aircraft of the company is grounded. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12025', 'image' => '20200805015856_nepali_flights.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:58:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12278', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Businessmen in Raxaul Face Heavy Losses due to lack of Customers from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Traders and businessmen of Raxaul, which lies across the border in India, from Birgunj, are facing a hard time paying their rent and salary to the staffers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Devanagari Sangam MN"">August 5: </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Traders and businessmen of Raxaul, which lies across the border in India, from Birgunj, are facing a hard time paying their rent and salary to the staffers. Their business have come to a complete halt after the Nepal-India border was closed to control the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">India’s Bihar state has currently imposed a lockdown due to surge in Covid-19 cases. The border remained closed even when the state government had lifted the lockdown earlier. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Operator of Jaya Nepal CD Showroom in Raxaul, Bimal Agrawal, informed New Business Age that they have not been able to do any business due to the closure of the international border.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">The market of Raxaul is mainly dependent on customers from Nepal. Almost two-thirds of the customers are from Nepal. The businessmen from Raxaul say that they have been bearing huge amount of losses due to the closure of border.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">Generally,, customers from Birgunj of Parsa and the nearby rural areas as well as people from Bara, Simara, Jitpur, Makwanpur and Hetauda visit Raxaul for shopping.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“There used to be hundreds of Nepali customers in Raxaul before the lockdown. But the measures to contain coronavirus has had a devastating effect on our business,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“Clothes, food items, utensils and electrical goods are mostly purchased by Nepali customers,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">He added that the businessmen of Bank Road and Lohar Patti have closed their shops after the border was sealed. According to Agrawal, the businessmen were forced to give up their trade after failing to pay the rent and staffers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Bangla MN"">“The cost of rent and monthly salary of staffers alone reaches anything between IRs 50,000 to IRs 200,000. But we have not been able to sell goods worth Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 per day,” said Agrawal.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12024', 'image' => '20200805014906_raxualbazar_filephoto.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 13:48:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12276', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Crosses Rs 100,000 Mark', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11 grams approximately) for the first time in the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11 grams approximately) for the first time in the country. Fine gold in being traded for a record high price of Rs 101,400 per 11 grams, according to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new price on Wednesday (August 5) is an overnight increase of Rs 1600 per 11 grams.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The price of gold in the domestic market on Tuesday was Rs 99,800 per tola. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, silver is being traded for Rs 1295 per 11 grams, Rs 65 up from Rs 1230 per a day ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Gold dealers say that the price of the precious yellow metal is steadily rising due to the high demand for gold in the international market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">It is said that investors are interested in gold to secure their investment in the international market amid risks of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12023', 'image' => '20200805125608_20200804052953_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 12:55:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12275', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dismal Progress of Road Projects in Last FY', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Work progress of P1 projects, which fall under the first priority of the Department of Roads (DoR), remained dismal in the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: Work progress of P1 projects, which fall under the first priority of the Department of Roads (DoR), remained dismal in the last fiscal year. Out of 42 P1 projects under the department, only 6 achieved more than 80 percent work progress during fiscal year 2019/20.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the department, 19 such projects have achieved work progress of 50 to 80 percent while the progress of 17 projects is less than 50 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, the national pride projects have also failed to impress if the work progress in taken into consideration.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The DoR has failed to achieve its target set for national pride projects and other priority projects. The department has blamed coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown as well as half a dozen other reasons for the failure to meet its target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had allocated Rs 127 billion to the department. However, it was able to spend only Rs 69.48 billion, which is 67.29 percent of the total budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the past, the department used to spend over 80 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Spokesperson at the department Shiva Hari Sapkota told New Business Age that they could not meet their target due to the coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the past one year, the department was able to blacktop 729 kilometers of road in the national road network. The department had set a target of blacktopping 1200 kilometers of road during the last fiscal year but was able to achieve only 60.75 percent of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bureaucratic red tape and other hurdles in release of foreign grant and assistance is another major reason for the delay in work completion. Other factors include delay in approval of Environment Impact Assessment, compensation distribution and land acquisition, obstruction by locals demanding more compensation, human resource management for projects handed over to the provincial governments among others.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12022', 'image' => '20200805115301_1596580326.Clipboard13a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 11:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12273', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Health Experts Urge Government to Impose Lockdown and Curfew if Required', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Health experts have suggested the government to take the issue of coronavirus seriously as the infection has been spreading rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 5: Health experts have suggested the government to take the issue of coronavirus seriously as the infection has been spreading rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The experts warned the government during a meeting with stakeholders at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Baluwatar Tuesday (August 4) that the pandemic is likely to inflict heavy losses if adequate measures are not taken promptly. They urged the government to impose strict measures in places with high rate of infection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">They recommended the government to either adopt strict measures in high-risk areas or to impose lockdown for another two weeks to stem the spread of the deadly disease. They suggested the government to impose curfew if necessary and seal the affected areas completely. They also urged the government not to allow entry of any foreign nationals into the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had lifted the four-month long lockdown imposed on March 24 about two weeks ago. Cases of coronavirus have been increasing rapidly after the government lifted the lockdown. Stating that the coronavirus pandemic would take a dangerous form if the current situation persists, the health experts urged the government to take strict and effective measures to curb the disease. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The experts concluded that the public has not been adopting necessary precautionary measures while the government’s decision to downplay the seriousness of the issue has further heightened the risk of disease transmission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Public health expert Dr Sameer Mani Dixit informed that they suggested the government to adopt strict measures in areas with high rate of infection and to ease the restrictions where the situation is normal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“We have urged the government to impose or lift the restriction considering the situation and the extent of infection in any particular area,” said Dr Dixit, adding that majority of health experts recommended the government to increase the number of tests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Lockdown is the best measure to curb the spread of infection,” he added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Another health expert Dr Rabindra Pandey suggested the government to control the flow of people from infected areas. He also urged the government to ensure that precautionary measures and health standards are met at the formal sector and physical distance maintained at workplace.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Dr Pandey, the prime minister has pledged to discuss the suggestions of the experts at the Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) meeting and the cabinet and then take action accordingly.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12021', 'image' => '20200805095116_1596581375.PS_Ktmjpg2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 09:50:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12274', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'DoTM Suspends Distributing Driving License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Department of Transportation Management (DoTM) has suspended distribution of driving license from all four offices within the Kathmandu Valley. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">August 5: The Department of Transportation Management (DoTM) has suspended distribution of driving license from all four offices within the Kathmandu Valley. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM has cited overcrowding for putting on hold the distribution of driving licenses.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The department said it was not able to manage the crowd despite government’s directive to maintain physical distance among the service seekers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM had started issuing license since mid-June after the government eased the lockdown restriction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif""> An official at the DoTM said that they decided to suspend all activities until the Covid-19 situation improves in the capital. According to the official, such measure was taken due to rise in number of coronavirus cases in Kathmandu Valley after the government lifted the lockdown two weeks ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">With this decision, DoTM offices at Jagati, Ekantakuna, Sukedhara and Thulobharyanag have suspended their services until further notice. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">DoTM has also suspended renewal of license. The department has not taken any tests after the government imposed lockdown on March 24.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The department has urged drivers to show the receipt from the office instead of license for the time being.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-05', 'modified' => '2020-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12020', 'image' => '20200805102819_Smart-Driving-License.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-05 10:26:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12271', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Gives Permission for Fuel Transport taking Advantage of Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has given permission to 23 tankers to transport aviation fuel by ignoring its own bylaws. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has given permission to 23 tankers to transport aviation fuel by ignoring its own bylaws. It has been learnt that NOC secretly issued permission for the transportation of fuel from Raxaul to Sinamangal by violating the provision of the Petroleum Transportation Regulation 2073. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">With the approval, the state-owned oil monopoly has violated its bylaws. Some entrepreneurs have approached the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) against this decision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">There is a provision in clause 3 of the bylaw that the corporation has to publish a 30-day notice in a national daily regarding an invitation for bid to acquire service from interested individual or company. Last June, the corporation gave permission to the same tankers that were earlier denied permission for not completing the due process. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In 2017, the corporation had given permission to 32 tankers for fuel transport without any notice. However, the corporation itself revoked the permission after Nepal Petroleum Transport Entrepreneurs warned about agitation. The entrepreneurs had approached CIAA at that time as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The entrepreneurs say that the tankers were given permission taking the advantage of lockdown. The corporation has again given the permit without issuing any public notice. A complaint has been filed at the CIAA alleging that the high level officials of the corporation have given approval by taking bribe. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Spokesperson of NOC, Binit Mani Upadhayay said that the temporary permission was given by the Board of Directors. He claimed that the right of way out is in the hands of BOD if there is any difficulty in making and implementing the laws. “The BOD has the right to eliminate obstacles in the formulation and implementation of the bylaws. The approval has been given as per the decision of the board,” he told New Business Age. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12019', 'image' => '20200804040802_1596492171.Clipboard01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 16:07:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12272', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Reaches Rs 99,800 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The price of gold has reached Rs 99,800 per tola (11 grams approximately). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: The price of gold has reached Rs 99,800 per tola (11 grams approximately). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the price of gold remained stable on Monday, it increased by Rs 300 per 11 grams to reach an all-time high of Rs 99,800.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Federation of Nepalese Gold and Silver Dealers Association on Tuesday (August 4) confirmed the increase in price of gold. According to the federation, fine gold is being traded for Rs 99,800 in the Nepalese market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, silver is being traded for Rs 1230 per 11 grams.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Gold dealers said that the price of the precious yellow metal is steadily rising due to the high demand for gold in the international market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">It is said that investors are interested in gold to secure their investment in the international market amid risks of coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12018', 'image' => '20200804052953_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 17:29:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12270', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Struggle to Lend Despite Adequate Capital', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: It has been two weeks since the government lifted lockdown, but the flow of loan from banks has not seen any significant improvement. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: It has been two weeks since the government lifted lockdown, but the flow of loan from banks has not seen any significant improvement. Although the banks have lowered the rate of interest, very few customers have visited the banks seeking new loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Commercial banks had availed loan of Rs 86 billion between mid-June to mid-July. But they have been able to lend only Rs 36.95 billion as of July end during the last 15 days of the month. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">All 27 commercial banks of the country are yet to recover a total loan of Rs 2903 billion as of mid-July 2020. The outstanding loan has dropped to Rs 2866.05 billion as of July end.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the flow of loan from banks has dropped significantly, there has been an increase in deposits of late. During mid-June to mid-July, commercial banks collected deposits worth Rs 129 billion. The collection of deposits dropped to Rs 490 million in the last 15 days of July. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The total deposits of all the commercial banks was Rs 3219 billion as of mid-May 2020, which increased to Rs 3294 billion within a month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Of late, banks have been lowering the rate of interest to attract more customers. Since mid-June, banks have been charging interest in single digit after lowering the rate of interest by 2 percentage points. They have also announced a scheme to provide relief to the Covid-19 affected individuals and institutions. Despite such steps, there hasn’t been any encouraging development in flow of loans.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12017', 'image' => '20200804031329_1596492776.Clipboard03.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 15:12:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12268', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '12 Companies Express Interest to Resume Air Service', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: International and domestic airline companies have started gearing up to resume their service after the government decided to lift the ban of air service from August 17. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: International and domestic airline companies have started gearing up to resume their service after the government decided to lift the ban of air service from August 17. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As of Monday (August 3), 12 airline companies including two from Nepal have presented their proposals to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) for international flights. Similarly, all domestic airline companies have also presented their proposals to the aviation regulatory body of Nepal to resume their business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Commercial flights have been halted since the last five months due to coronavirus pandemic. The government has allowed only emergency flights for rescue operations and medical cargo since imposing lockdown on March 24. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Airlines Corporation – the flag carrier of Nepal - and Himalaya Airlines have showed their interest to resume international flights after the government lifts the restriction from August 17. Other companies willing to restart commercial flights include Indigo Air of India, Air China and China Southern of China, Salam Air of Oman, Jazeera Air of Kuwait, Fly Dubai of the UAE, Malaysian Airlines and Malindo Air of Malaysia, Air Arabia of Saudi Arabia, and Turkish Airlines.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to CAAN, these companies have proposed holding 158 flights per week.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“This figure is expected to rise,” said the source.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The state-owned NAC has proposed conducting 57 flights per week while Turkish Airlines, Air China and China Southern have proposed organising only 1 flight each.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CAAN informed New Business Age that it is yet to decide how much flights will the interested airlines companies will be allowed to conduct. Informed sources said that CAAN is preparing to allow only 25 to 30 percent of flights compared to the pre-lockdown period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The airline operators must adhere to the protocols set by the World Health Organisation and the ICA0. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“We are yet to decide on the frequency of flights and the destinations due to a surge in number of coronavirus cases again,” said CAAN Spokesperson Raj Kumar Chhetri.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12016', 'image' => '20200804122127_1596492326.1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 12:20:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12269', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sushil Bhatta Appointed CEO of Investment Board', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The government has appointed engineer Sushil Bhatta as the CEO of Investment Board Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/Clipboard10%2810%29%281%29.jpg" style="height:284px; width:300px" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">August 4: The government has appointed engineer Sushil Bhatta as the CEO of Investment Board Nepal. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday (August 3) decided to appoint Bhatta, who is a member of the National Planning Commission, as CEO of the board,</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The post of CEO at the board was lying vacant after the then CEO Maha Prasad Adhikari was appointed as governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. Besides Bhatta, the names of former member of the Electricity Regulatory Commission Ram Krishna Khatiwada and CEO of Province 1 Investment Authority were also recommended for the post of IBN’s CEO. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A three-member committee headed by Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada was formed to recommend the names for the post of IBN’s CEO. Out of 12 individuals who had filed application to lead the board, the government had shortlisted the applicants after a study conducted by NRB Governor Adhikari.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CEO of National Reconstruction Authority Sushil Gyawali, former secretary Laxmi Bilas Koirala, former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi, former administrator at Citizens Investment Trust Krishna Acharya, former executive director of Special Economic Zones Chandika Bhatta, IBN’s consultant Ashish Gajurel , former CEO of Machhapuchhre Bank Suman Sharma and associate professor at TU Ramesh Chandra Poudel were the other aspirants.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bhatta has more than 15 years of experience in project management and infrastructure development.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-08-04', 'modified' => '2020-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12015', 'image' => '20200804124452_20200604020901_IBN.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-08-04 12:43:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
