September 13: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) is preparing to issue license for a new stock exchange company and brokers within this…
September 13: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) is preparing to issue license for a new stock exchange company and brokers within this…
September 13: Bank deposits and credit flow continued to improve in the second week of September as well.…
September 13: Nepal has improved its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking from 144th to 143rd, although the HDI value has marginally declined from 0.604 to 0.602…
September 13: Domestic airline companies of Nepal say that they are facing problems in arranging flight schedules due to the difficulty in availing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for commercial flights.…
September 13: The Government of Nepal has decided to provide relief materials worth Rs 20 billion to Pakistan, which has been hit hard by floods and…
September 13: China has assured that it will clear all containers bound for Nepal at the earliest before the festive season in…
September 12: Internet service provider WorldLink has unveiled the 'WorldLink FaceTV'…
September 12: The Insurance Board is preparing to change the investment guidelines after insurance companies were found to have deposited most of the amount collected from their clients in fixed deposits accounts of banks.…
September 12: A parliamentary panel has found various problems related to the under-construction railway tracks in different sections of Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh route as well as the 35-Kilometer Janakpur-Jayanagar route which is already…
September 12: Businessmen of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association (NTHBCA) have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, requesting the government to reopen the Tatopani border.…
September 12: The restriction imposed by the government on the import of vehicles has caused problems not only to the importers but also to the agencies invilved in trade…
September 12: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the incumbent government had introduced the concept of 'Tourism Decade 2023-2032' for development of sustainable…
September 12: With a focus on informing potential investors about investment opportunities for sustainable infrastructure in Nepal and to create a conducive environment for investment, the Investment Board Nepal is organising the Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum on September…
September 11: Chennai-based Madras Security Printers, which was awarded the contract to facilitate the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) to issue smart driving license, has failed to deliver its services as per the…
September 11: Cargo materials were exported for the first time using Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport on July 27.…
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Chairman of the board Ramesh Kumar Hamal informed that the board will seek applications for the new company and broker license within this week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Hamal, the minimum paid-up capital required for the new stock exchange company is Rs 3 billion. Likewise, the capital requirement for new broker license has been fixed between Rs 200 million to Rs 1.5 billion. Brokers will be issued three different types of licenses based on their capital. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the new provision, the first kind of brokers providing limited services of stock market transaction require a minimum capital of Rs 200 million to acquire license. Likewise, the brokers providing services like share transaction, depository participant, investment consultancy, investment management and margin business need to have a minimum paid up capital of Rs 600 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the third type of license will be issued for stock dealers who must maintain a minimum capital of Rs 1.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Hamal informed that the board’s proposal to open broker license every year has been amended. According to Hamal, the board will now issue broker license once in every three years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Whoever meets the criteria set by the board can acquire license,” said Hamal. “This will create an opportunity for everyone involved in the stock market,” he added.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15729', 'image' => '20220913040730_Sebonnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 16:06:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bank Deposits and Credit Flow Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Bank deposits and credit flow continued to improve in the second week of September as well. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 13: Bank deposits and credit flow continued to improve in the second week of September as well. It has been found that the new schemes of banks to attract deposits and the upcoming festivals have had a positive impact on bank deposits and loan disbursement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, in the second week of September, bank deposits increased by Rs 8 billion, while credit flow also increased by Rs 7 billion. The total deposits of commercial banks which stood at Rs 4437 billion on September 2 climbed to Rs 4444 biillion on September 9. Although the bank deposits had decreased in the third week of August, it has been continuously rising since then. From mid-August to mid-September, deposits of Rs 12 billion have been added in the banking system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The upcoming festive season and new deposit schemes introduced by banks have been considered as the main reasons for the increase in bank deposits. Lately, banks have announced term deposit schemes for a period of 21 years, giving up to 10 times returns of the initial deposit. Similarly, bankers claim that remittance inflow has increased as Dashain, the biggest festival of Nepal, is fast approaching. This has had a positive impact in the domestic market and the financial activities have also increased. Along with the increase in deposits, banks have also started to increase loan disbursement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, the total loan disbursement of banks was Rs 4181 billion on September 2, which reached Rs 4188 biillion by September 9. From mid-August to mid-September, credit flow of banks has increased by Rs 12 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the increase in loans/deposits of banks, the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) has also improved. According to the association, the average CD ratio of commercial banks remained at 88.36 percent on September 9. Earlier, the CD ratio was 88.25 percent on September 2 and 88.42 percent on August 26. According to the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank, banks should maintain CD ratio within 90 percent. Banks that are unable to maintain this ratio will be fined for the excess amount.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15728', 'image' => '20220913031923_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 15:18:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15986', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Improves in HDI Ranking despite Fall in HDI Value: UNDP Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Nepal has improved its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking from 144th to 143rd, although the HDI value has marginally declined from 0.604 to 0.602 points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: Nepal has improved its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking from 144th to 143rd, although the HDI value has marginally declined from 0.604 to 0.602 points due to continued turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in a report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">From the lens of gender, Nepal stands at 113th position in global Gender Inequality Index. As per the report, Sri Lanka tops the list of South Asian countries in HDI ranking with its position of 73 in the world followed by Maldives (90), Bhutan (127), Bangladesh (129), India (132), Nepal (143) Pakistan (161) and Afghanistan (180).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Released after a two-year gap on September 12, the 2022 report puts the country in the medium human development category. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The HDI is a measure for assessing long- term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the UNDP, Nepal made a significant achievement in HDI value between 1990 and 2021, which improved from 0.399 to 0.602, that means an improvement of 50.9 percent in the last three decades. Between 1990 and 2021, Nepal's life expectancy at birth has improved by 13.6 years, mean years of schooling improved by 2.8 years and expected years of schooling improved by 5.4 years. Nepal's GNI per capita improved by about 146.0 percent between 1990 and 2021, the UNDP report said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report however shows Nepal continues to incur substantive loss in human development due to persisting inequalities including gender, caste, geographic regions and other categories. As the inequality in a country increases, the loss in human development also increases. The 2021 female HDI value for Nepal is 0.584 in contrast to 0.621 for males, resulting in a GDI value of 0.942, placing it into Group 3 which comprises countries with medium equality in HDI achievements between women and men. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Records show Nepal’s performance during 2019 and 2020 was comparatively low in the areas including maternal mortality, shares of parliamentary seats held by women, and women’s participation in the labour force. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gender Inequality Index measures gender inequalities (the loss in human development due to inequality between female and male achievements) in three key dimensions – reproductive health, empowerment, and labour market. Reproductive health is measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates; empowerment is measured by the shares of parliamentary seats held and population with at least some secondary education by each gender; and labour market participation is measured by the labour force participation rates for women and men. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> “The new Human Development Report indicates Nepal has largely maintained stable position over the past two years despite numerous shocks, including COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. This is because of the long-term investments over the years. Going forward, we need everyone’s wisdom, experience and more importantly the positive attitude to cope with crisis and making more choices available to the people,” said Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Nepal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15727', 'image' => '20220913022112_HDI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 14:20:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flight Schedule Affected due to Unavailability of Aviation Fuel outside Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Domestic airline companies of Nepal say that they are facing problems in arranging flight schedules due to the difficulty in availing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for commercial flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 13: Domestic airline companies of Nepal say that they are facing problems in arranging flight schedules due to the difficulty in availing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for commercial flights. They said that the problems have surfaced as aviation fuel is not easily available in most of the airports outside Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Airline Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) has drawn the attention of the government to this problem. The association has also requested the government to facilitate in supplying ATF to the airports in remote areas. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Monday, the AOAN said it has urged the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to avail aviation fuel in airports outside Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The association said that a situation has arisen where they can no longer operate commercial flights due to unavailability of fuel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement issued by AOAN says that they are facing scarcity of fuel when the festive season is just around the corner. The association further said that the passengers have been affected due to the unavailability of flights just ahead of the festivals when the airline companies were planning to provide reliable and safe flights during the festive season. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“In such a situation, the CAAN has been urged to avail aviation turbine fuel in airports outside Kathmandu as soon as possible,” reads the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dhangadhi-based depot of Nepal Oil Corporation had recently warned that there might be problems in supply of aviation fuel due to the protest launched by transport companies on September 2. The Dhangadhi depot has urged the NOC to avail fuel to the airline companies from Sinamangal-based depot until the situation normalizes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The demand for fuel is high during the festive season. The transport companies have started their protest demanding a hike in transportation fare taking advantage of this situation.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15726', 'image' => '20220913010255_Airport.width-1024.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 13:02:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Relief Materials to Pakistan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: The Government of Nepal has decided to provide relief materials worth Rs 20 billion to Pakistan, which has been hit hard by floods and landslides. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: The Government of Nepal has decided to provide relief materials worth Rs 20 billion to Pakistan, which has been hit hard by floods and landslides. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Monday, Spokesperson at Ministry of Home Affairs, Phanindra Mani Pokhrel, confirmed that the government has decided to providing relief materials to Pakistan in view of the huge loss of lives and properties due to the recent floods and inundation in the neighbouring country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The relief materials are being provided as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on September 6. Nepal has also expressed condolence to the bereaved family members who lost their loves ones in the disaster, and wished for speedy recovery of the injured. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15725', 'image' => '20220913120558_Flag-Pins-Nepal-Pakistan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 12:05:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'China Assures to Clear all Containers Bound for Nepal before Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: China has assured that it will clear all containers bound for Nepal at the earliest before the festive season in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: China has assured that it will clear all containers bound for Nepal at the earliest before the festive season in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">China gave such assurance during an official meeting held between Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota and visiting Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China Li Zhanshu held in Kathmandu on Monday afternoon. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Upon request from Nepal, the Chinese side also assured that it will take necessary measures to address the widening trade gaps between the two countries and encourage its entrepreneurs to invest in Nepal, particularly in areas that support the livelihood of the Nepali people. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the talks, the two dignitaries expressed happiness over the excellent state of bilateral relations and cooperation between Nepal and China and held discussions on different matters of mutual interests. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Sapkota reiterated Nepal’s commitment to One-China Policy and not to allow any activity against China in Nepali territory, according to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker appreciated the people and Government of the China for their generous support and cooperation to Nepal’s development endeavor and expressed hope for an enhanced level of support from China for post-pandemic recovery and other development priorities of Nepal. He added that the people and Government of Nepal are grateful to the Chinese government for providing Nepal with substantial amount of medical supplies, equipment and COVID-19 vaccines. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Li expressed China’s continued support to Nepal’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, both sides agreed to further strengthen inter-parliamentary exchanges and cooperation. They also underscored the role of Parliamentary Friendship Group in each other’s parliament in further promoting goodwill and understanding between the two legislatures. Li promised to provide assistance to Nepal’s parliament as per its need and requirement at the institution level. The two leaders also exchanged views on the importance of implementing connectivity infrastructures under the Belt and Road Initiative. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the bilateral talks, Speaker Sapkota and Li signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Inter-parliamentary Cooperation between the two countries. Later in the evening, Speaker Sapkota hosted a dinner in honour of Li Zhanshu and the visiting delegation. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15724', 'image' => '20220913115559_PRO_KTM_AGNISAPKOTA_CHINISEDELAGATE_PARLIAMENTAHOUSE.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 11:34:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15982', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'WorldLink’s Festive Offer', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Internet service provider WorldLink has unveiled the 'WorldLink FaceTV' offer.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: Internet service provider WorldLink has unveiled the 'WorldLink FaceTV' offer. According to the company, customers can get three different attractive packages for subscription under the offer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under the 'First Offer', customers will get a dual band router and 200 Mbps internet service for Rs 1,000 per month (annual subscription). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the company, the customers can get Nokia Bacon 1.1 mesh router, dual band router and high speed internet as well as 200 Mbps internet with uninterrupted connection for Rs 1,000 per month (annual subscription) under the '2 routers' package.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company informed that the customers can get Nokia Bacon 1.1 mesh router, 200 Mbps internet service for Rs 1,050 per month (annual subscription) under 'Smart Offer'. In addition, customers can get set-top box and monthly NetTV for Rs 150, as per their needs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company informed that the offer will be available in 1 year, 6 months or 3 months packages. In addition, NetTV has also announced the 'NetTV FaceTV' offer. Under the offer, consumers can purchase Yasuda's 32-inch YS-32 NWN model LED TV or 43-inch YS-43 NWS model bezel-less smart TV with NetTV set-top box and one-year subscription.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the company, the price of 32-inch TV NetTV set-top box and one-year plan is Rs 14,999 including VAT. Similarly, the price of 43-inch TV NetTV set-top box and one-year plan is 29,299 rupees including VAT. The company added that the set top box deposit will be Rs 500 in both the plans.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15723', 'image' => '20220912041849_fest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 16:18:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Board Preparing to Amend Investment Guidelines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: The Insurance Board is preparing to change the investment guidelines after insurance companies were found to have deposited most of the amount collected from their clients in fixed deposits accounts of banks. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 12: The Insurance Board is preparing to change the investment guidelines after insurance companies were found to have deposited most of the amount collected from their clients in fixed deposits accounts of banks. The insurance companies complained that they were unable to diversify their investment due to the investment guidelines. Following the grudges of the insurance companies, the Insurance Board decided to amend the guidelines to allow diversify the investment of the companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We received complaints that the insurance companies were unable to invest in sectors like hydropower, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure development and other productive sectors due to the investment guidelines,” said Surya Prasad Silwal, chairman of the Insurance Board.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Therefore, we are preparing to amend the guidelines so that the insurance companies can invest in new areas,” added Silwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Insurance Board had changed the investment guidelines three years ago and allowed to diversify investment as per the suggestion of the insurance companies. However, they are still unable to invest. As a result, they focused on fixed deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The guidelines issued by the board in March 2019 has opened way to invest in infrastructure and productive sectors such as real estate business, water resources, agriculture, tourism, in addition to fixed deposits and shares. However, insurance companies do not seem to be attracted to other areas except fixed deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Insurance Board, by the end of the fiscal year 2021/22, 19 life insurance companies and 20 non-life insurance companies invested a total of Rs 527.8 billion. Among these investments, 408 billion has invested in fixed deposits of banks and financial institutions. This is 77.48 percent of the total investment of insurance companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The insurance companies have invested only 1.41 percent in infrastructure development which includes investment of Rs 7.14 billion by life insurance companies and Rs 300 million investment by non-life insurance companies. The investment of insurance companies in the real estate sector is negligible.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the guidelines, companies should invest a minimum of 40 percent of their total technical reserve in fixed deposits of commercial and infrastructure banks and a minimum of 5 percent in government bonds. Similarly, a maximum of 20 percent can be invested in development banks and a maximum of 10 percent in finance companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, they can invest up to 5 percent in real estate business, up to 10 percent in ordinary shares of listed companies, up to 20 percent in preference shares, up to 20 percent in shares of listed companies, up to 20 percent in infrastructure including agriculture, tourism and water resources, and up to 5 percent in Citizens Investment Trust and mutual funds.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15722', 'image' => '20220912041127_20220907110038_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 16:10:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15980', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Route Full of Problems ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: A parliamentary panel has found various problems related to the under-construction railway tracks in different sections of Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh route as well as the 35-Kilometer Janakpur-Jayanagar route which is already operational.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">September 12: A parliamentary panel has found various problems related to the under-construction railway tracks in different sections of Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh route as well as the 35-Kilometer Janakpur-Jayanagar route which is already operational. The workers engaged in the construction of the railway track are not being paid on time, states a report prepared by the Development and Technology Committee of the House of Representatives. As per the report, other major problems include the use of substandard materials in the construction of the trackbed and land encroachment in different places.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report prepared by a delegation of the House Committee, which visited Janakpur-Jayanagar and Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh sections in August, has pointed out more than a dozen such problems. The report has also pointed out problems like land acquisition for the construction of a bridge in Bardibas, distribution of compensation, and deforestation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Problems like acquisition of public land and community forests have also surfaced while constructing a 30 km trackbed in Sarlahi. This has delayed the construction itself. Out of the 18 km trackbed under construction in Mahottari, 3.1 km of the trackbed has problem in acquisition of public land.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The parliamentary committee found that the builders who were entrusted with the construction of this section of track handed over the construction work to local builders. The report further states that the quality of trackbed is questionable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The parliamentary team led by chairperson of the committee Kalyani Kumari Khadka had made an on-site inspection of this section on August 21, 22 and 23. The report also mentions that the quality of work has been compromised due to the workers abandoning the work abruptly after they were not paid on time. Also, the construction materials were not readily available for the construction. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Construction of railway tracks in various sections of the 73.64 kilometer Jayanagar-Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgadh route is currently underway. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Out of this, 35 kilometers of the Janakpur-Jayanagar section is already operational since the last five months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> The state-owned railway company of Nepal has reached an agreement with the Indian company Konkan Railway Corporation Limited for the Indian company to operate the trains in Nepal until the government prepares its human resources capable to undertake the responsibility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Niranjan Jha, general manager of Nepal Railway Company Limited, said that the budget for the current fiscal year, including Rs 48 million due to be paid to Konkan, has not been approved yet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">An official of the Department of Railways said that the issue of operating trains in Nepal is complicated. "There is no concrete plan yet on how to run the train in the Janakpur-Jayanagar section," said the official. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15721', 'image' => '20220912030858_Railwayy (1).jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 15:07:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15979', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Submit Memo to Foreign Minister Demanding Reopening of Tatopani Border', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Businessmen of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association (NTHBCA) have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, requesting the government to reopen the Tatopani border. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: Businessmen of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association (NTHBCA) have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, requesting the government to reopen the Tatopani border. They submitted the memorandum on Sunday asking the government to open the border in order to facilitate in creating a favourable environment for conducting business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Khadka assured the businessmen while receiving the memo that efforts are being made to open the Tatopani border immediately. He informed that talks are being held with the Chinese authorities to operate the border without any hassles. He also expressed his commitment that the issue of reopening the border will be given priority during the meeting with the Chinese side as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Foreign Minister Khadka expressed hope of positive outcome in easing supply of goods before Dashain. He said that chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Congress, Li Zhanshu will arrive in Nepal on Monday and pay a courtesy call on Tuesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Discussions are underway to resume import and export with China through the border points. We have been requesting the Chinese side to reopen the border as soon as possible. I will give special emphasis on the opening of the Tatopani border during the courtesy meeting with Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Congress, who is visiting Nepal,” said Minister Khadka.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion, Nepali Congress leader and former minister Mohan Basnet said that it is not appropriate to shut the border while blaming the rise in Covid-19 infection. He said that the government should take initiative to open the border as soon as possible so that there is no shortage of consumable goods during the upcoming festivals.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Recalling that the local residents up to 32 kilometers away from the border crossing had the facility of exemption of customs tax for personal use items before the earthquake, Basnet urged Foreign Minister Khadka to negotiate with the Chinese side to avail the same facility again. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After submitting the memorandum, Ashok Kumar Shrestha, president of NTHBCA, said that they are facing problems in the market management as the Dashain festival is just around the corner while the e border has not reopened fully. He urged the government to take the initiative to open the border as soon as possible since some traders are abandoning their business as they cannot afford the cost because of the delay in arrival of goods from China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> During the meeting, President of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hom Bahadur Basnet also emphasized that Tatopani border point should be operated without any hassles. He said that around 200 freight vehicles used to enter the country daily when the checkpoint was operating smoothly. But now, not even 10 of them are allowed entry. He complained that it is very challenging to do business in such situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15720', 'image' => '20220912021505_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 14:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15978', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'More than 1800 Vehicles Stuck in Birgunj due to Import Restriction ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: The restriction imposed by the government on the import of vehicles has caused problems not only to the importers but also to the agencies invilved in trade facilitation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: The restriction imposed by the government on the import of vehicles has caused problems not only to the importers but also to the agencies invilved in trade facilitation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">More than 1,800 vehicles are currently stuck at Birgunj customs, the largest checkpoint in terms of the volume of vehicle import.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The vehicles are stopped at the Integrated Checkpoint (ICP) Customs at Birganj. Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board, which operates the ICP, said that they are facing pressure to manage the parking area of the vehicles and also to ensure safety of the parked vehicles.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the pressure to accommodate increasing number of vehicles, the board is planning to construct a parking lot with a capacity to park 300 more vehicles.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kamal Gyawali, chief of the board, believes that the pressure to manage the vehicles at the ICP will ease after the construction of a new parking lot. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The vehicles that have arrived here have not got customs clearance. The number of vehicles is increasing each day and it is becoming difficult to manage the ICP,” said Gyawali. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Preparations are underway to build a separate warehouse and parking lot at the ICP with support from the World Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under this plan, warehouse and parking will be prepared in an area of 40,000 square meters, the board said. For this, a team from the World Bank has already conducted an on-site study of the ICP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In order to reduce the pressure on the foreign exchange reserves, the government had imposed a ban on import of some luxury items including vehicles for personal use. As a result, the cars have been piling up at the customs point after banks stopped credit investment for purchase of vehicles upon instruction from the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even the vehicles that arrived at the customs point before the government imposed the restrictions have been held at the customs. As there is no demand for new vehicles in the market at present, the importers have not shown any interest in releasing the vehicles that arrived here before the ban was imposed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Importers have to pay heavy parking fees at ICP. To reduce such expenses, they rented land in the bordering Indian city of Raxaul to store the vehicles.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15719', 'image' => '20220912012041_20220815011457_1660393906.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 13:19:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15977', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Decade Announced for Development of Sustainable Tourism ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the incumbent government had introduced the concept of 'Tourism Decade 2023-2032' for development of sustainable tourism. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 12: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the incumbent government had introduced the concept of 'Tourism Decade 2023-2032' for development of sustainable tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at an interaction with the stakeholders on Sunday, Minister Shrestha said that this concept was visualized to revive the tourism industry of Nepal battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that tourism was one of the mainstays of national economy, Minister Shrestha pledged to facilitate the tourism entrepreneurs and also promised policy reforms for the development and promotion of the tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Tourism Secretary Suresh Adhikari shed light on the concept of the Tourism Decade and said that the concept was put in place to earn foreign currencies in the long run. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to attract as many as 3.5 million foreign tourists in Nepal by 2032, according to Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Nepal Tourism Board’s (NTB) CEO Dr Dhananjay Regmi shared that Nepal would reap a lot of benefits from tourism if there was proper coordination among the concerned bodies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former State Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Yankila Sherpa urged the government to accord high priority to coordination and collaboration with the private sector for implementing programmes related to tourism promotion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">HAAN President Shreejan Rana recommended the government to introduce action-plans to bring in as many as foreign tourists as possible in Nepal during the Tourism Decade. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15718', 'image' => '20220912114233_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 11:42:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15976', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IBN to Organise Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: With a focus on informing potential investors about investment opportunities for sustainable infrastructure in Nepal and to create a conducive environment for investment, the Investment Board Nepal is organising the Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum on September 14. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 12: With a focus on informing potential investors about investment opportunities for sustainable infrastructure in Nepal and to create a conducive environment for investment, the Investment Board Nepal is organising the Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum on September 14. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The key objective of the forum is to explore ways on how foreign investment could be made more reliable and systematic in the country while ensuring sustainability of the development process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a news conference on Sunday, Chief Executive Officer of the board Sushil Bhatta said the forum would discuss the ideas of making development and construction works sustainable while making it green, resilient and inclusive. He added that the forum would be a cornerstone for resource mobilisation to achieve the net-zero carbon emissions as committed by Nepal in the COP-26. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is scheduled to inaugurate the forum, informed the board's Spokesperson Amrit Lamsal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15717', 'image' => '20220912112957_20210823044910_MG_3290.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 11:29:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15975', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Madras Security Printers Blamed for Technical Issues in Printing Smart License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 11: Chennai-based Madras Security Printers, which was awarded the contract to facilitate the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) to issue smart driving license, has failed to deliver its services as per the agreement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 11: Chennai-based Madras Security Printers, which was awarded the contract to facilitate the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) to issue smart driving license, has failed to deliver its services as per the agreement. According to the department, they are still awaiting for the company to develop the software system to a full scale. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The company’s failure to deliver the service as per the agreement has caused delay in the printing and distribution of smart driving license cards, according to the department. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department claimed that it has already paid 90 percent of the contract amount equivalent to Rs 700 billion to the company, but it has failed to deliver the system as per the agreement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department’s computer engineer Suraj Prasad Aryal shared that the DoTM has already informed the Indian company about technical issues it is facing in the smart card software system. Though the company was urged to send a technical team here to fix the issues, it did not find it necessary to respond to the call. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A letter dispatched by the department to the company states that TMO /TMSO and modules are not functioning properly, there is a problem for the online payment of tax and insurance and it is tackling with a software bug and loopholes in the security system. Moreover, the security audit of electronic driving license is yet to be carried out. Due to these reasons, the Department's Online System (EDL and VRS) remains non-functional. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, work on 18 TMS has also not moved ahead as the company has not sent the skilled human resources required for technical assistance as per the agreement. The company has to provide the software project manager, senior and junior Web Java programmer, database specialist and quality assurance specialist, but it has not completed its obligation till now. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Not only this, the company has also not fully handed over the software and hardware necessary for online renewal of the driving license and vehicle registration. The DoTM has alleged that it is facing problems frequently due to this reason. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-11', 'modified' => '2022-09-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15716', 'image' => '20220911054844_Smart-driving-licence-specimen.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-11 17:47:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15974', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepali Exporters show Lack of Interest to Export Goods using Gautam Buddha Int’l Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 11: Cargo materials were exported for the first time using Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport on July 27. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 11: Cargo materials were exported for the first time using Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport on July 27. Himalex Traders of Kathmandu had exported Nepali products through Rising Star Cargo Pvt. Ltd using the newly-built airport. The consignment of handicraft items was sent to France through a transit in Kuwait by Jazeera Airways. Since then, none other goods have been exported through the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Export of goods from the airport has not increased due to lack of interest among the businessmen. Although the exporters are using the Tribhuvan International Airport to export Nepali goods abroad, hardly anyone is interested in Bhairahawa Airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Freight Forwarders Association’s President Manoj Adhikari says that the exporters have shown little interest in using Bhairahawa-based airport for export although it has all necessary infrastructure to export their products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We cannot expect businessmen from Kathmandu to use this airport to export goods. The private sector of this area should take initiative to export goods using this airport,” says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have to identify the local products and export them through this airport,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Rupandehi district is best knowngreen vegetables and fishery. Adhikari says that vegetables, medicinal herbs, coffee, noodles, and flour can be exported through this airport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He argues that the stakeholders need to identify the products that have good potential for export and focus on production of those goods. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“NFFA is ready to facilitate the identification of the goods that have high potential for export,” says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airport has a capacity to import/export up to 500 tons of goods per day for the time being. However, exporters of this area are also using Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan International Airport instead of this airport, says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Bhishma Neupane, chairman of Siddhartha Industry and Commerce Association, says that the industrialists are confused what should they export from this airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Neupane argues that the industrialists and businessmen are in dilemma because the airport has just come into operation. The businessmen say that there are still many legal hurdles to export goods from this airport. They say that the airport lacks cold storage to export green vegetables and also customs point for export.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, chief of the Gautam Buddha International Airport Customs Office Tikaram Gaire says that the airport is fully prepared to handle export and import of goods. He says that there is no hurdle for foreign trade through this airport. The storage house in the airport will come into operation soon, says Gaire.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Only one airline company – Jazeera Airways – has been operating regular flights using this airport which came into operation on May 16 this year. The airline company has been conducting three flights a week between Bhairahawa and Kuwait.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airport has announced various concessions to attract more airline companies. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-11', 'modified' => '2022-09-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15715', 'image' => '20220911045302_GBIAAA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-11 16:52:16', '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' => '15988', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Securities Board to Issue License for New Stock Exchange Company and Brokers within this Week', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) is preparing to issue license for a new stock exchange company and brokers within this week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 13: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) is preparing to issue license for a new stock exchange company and brokers within this week. Chairman of the board Ramesh Kumar Hamal informed that the board will seek applications for the new company and broker license within this week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Hamal, the minimum paid-up capital required for the new stock exchange company is Rs 3 billion. Likewise, the capital requirement for new broker license has been fixed between Rs 200 million to Rs 1.5 billion. Brokers will be issued three different types of licenses based on their capital. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the new provision, the first kind of brokers providing limited services of stock market transaction require a minimum capital of Rs 200 million to acquire license. Likewise, the brokers providing services like share transaction, depository participant, investment consultancy, investment management and margin business need to have a minimum paid up capital of Rs 600 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the third type of license will be issued for stock dealers who must maintain a minimum capital of Rs 1.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Hamal informed that the board’s proposal to open broker license every year has been amended. According to Hamal, the board will now issue broker license once in every three years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Whoever meets the criteria set by the board can acquire license,” said Hamal. “This will create an opportunity for everyone involved in the stock market,” he added.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15729', 'image' => '20220913040730_Sebonnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 16:06:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bank Deposits and Credit Flow Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Bank deposits and credit flow continued to improve in the second week of September as well. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 13: Bank deposits and credit flow continued to improve in the second week of September as well. It has been found that the new schemes of banks to attract deposits and the upcoming festivals have had a positive impact on bank deposits and loan disbursement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, in the second week of September, bank deposits increased by Rs 8 billion, while credit flow also increased by Rs 7 billion. The total deposits of commercial banks which stood at Rs 4437 billion on September 2 climbed to Rs 4444 biillion on September 9. Although the bank deposits had decreased in the third week of August, it has been continuously rising since then. From mid-August to mid-September, deposits of Rs 12 billion have been added in the banking system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The upcoming festive season and new deposit schemes introduced by banks have been considered as the main reasons for the increase in bank deposits. Lately, banks have announced term deposit schemes for a period of 21 years, giving up to 10 times returns of the initial deposit. Similarly, bankers claim that remittance inflow has increased as Dashain, the biggest festival of Nepal, is fast approaching. This has had a positive impact in the domestic market and the financial activities have also increased. Along with the increase in deposits, banks have also started to increase loan disbursement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, the total loan disbursement of banks was Rs 4181 billion on September 2, which reached Rs 4188 biillion by September 9. From mid-August to mid-September, credit flow of banks has increased by Rs 12 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the increase in loans/deposits of banks, the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) has also improved. According to the association, the average CD ratio of commercial banks remained at 88.36 percent on September 9. Earlier, the CD ratio was 88.25 percent on September 2 and 88.42 percent on August 26. According to the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank, banks should maintain CD ratio within 90 percent. Banks that are unable to maintain this ratio will be fined for the excess amount.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15728', 'image' => '20220913031923_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 15:18:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15986', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Improves in HDI Ranking despite Fall in HDI Value: UNDP Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Nepal has improved its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking from 144th to 143rd, although the HDI value has marginally declined from 0.604 to 0.602 points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: Nepal has improved its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking from 144th to 143rd, although the HDI value has marginally declined from 0.604 to 0.602 points due to continued turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in a report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">From the lens of gender, Nepal stands at 113th position in global Gender Inequality Index. As per the report, Sri Lanka tops the list of South Asian countries in HDI ranking with its position of 73 in the world followed by Maldives (90), Bhutan (127), Bangladesh (129), India (132), Nepal (143) Pakistan (161) and Afghanistan (180).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Released after a two-year gap on September 12, the 2022 report puts the country in the medium human development category. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The HDI is a measure for assessing long- term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the UNDP, Nepal made a significant achievement in HDI value between 1990 and 2021, which improved from 0.399 to 0.602, that means an improvement of 50.9 percent in the last three decades. Between 1990 and 2021, Nepal's life expectancy at birth has improved by 13.6 years, mean years of schooling improved by 2.8 years and expected years of schooling improved by 5.4 years. Nepal's GNI per capita improved by about 146.0 percent between 1990 and 2021, the UNDP report said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report however shows Nepal continues to incur substantive loss in human development due to persisting inequalities including gender, caste, geographic regions and other categories. As the inequality in a country increases, the loss in human development also increases. The 2021 female HDI value for Nepal is 0.584 in contrast to 0.621 for males, resulting in a GDI value of 0.942, placing it into Group 3 which comprises countries with medium equality in HDI achievements between women and men. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Records show Nepal’s performance during 2019 and 2020 was comparatively low in the areas including maternal mortality, shares of parliamentary seats held by women, and women’s participation in the labour force. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gender Inequality Index measures gender inequalities (the loss in human development due to inequality between female and male achievements) in three key dimensions – reproductive health, empowerment, and labour market. Reproductive health is measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates; empowerment is measured by the shares of parliamentary seats held and population with at least some secondary education by each gender; and labour market participation is measured by the labour force participation rates for women and men. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> “The new Human Development Report indicates Nepal has largely maintained stable position over the past two years despite numerous shocks, including COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. This is because of the long-term investments over the years. Going forward, we need everyone’s wisdom, experience and more importantly the positive attitude to cope with crisis and making more choices available to the people,” said Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Nepal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15727', 'image' => '20220913022112_HDI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 14:20:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flight Schedule Affected due to Unavailability of Aviation Fuel outside Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Domestic airline companies of Nepal say that they are facing problems in arranging flight schedules due to the difficulty in availing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for commercial flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 13: Domestic airline companies of Nepal say that they are facing problems in arranging flight schedules due to the difficulty in availing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for commercial flights. They said that the problems have surfaced as aviation fuel is not easily available in most of the airports outside Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Airline Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) has drawn the attention of the government to this problem. The association has also requested the government to facilitate in supplying ATF to the airports in remote areas. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Monday, the AOAN said it has urged the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to avail aviation fuel in airports outside Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The association said that a situation has arisen where they can no longer operate commercial flights due to unavailability of fuel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement issued by AOAN says that they are facing scarcity of fuel when the festive season is just around the corner. The association further said that the passengers have been affected due to the unavailability of flights just ahead of the festivals when the airline companies were planning to provide reliable and safe flights during the festive season. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“In such a situation, the CAAN has been urged to avail aviation turbine fuel in airports outside Kathmandu as soon as possible,” reads the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dhangadhi-based depot of Nepal Oil Corporation had recently warned that there might be problems in supply of aviation fuel due to the protest launched by transport companies on September 2. The Dhangadhi depot has urged the NOC to avail fuel to the airline companies from Sinamangal-based depot until the situation normalizes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The demand for fuel is high during the festive season. The transport companies have started their protest demanding a hike in transportation fare taking advantage of this situation.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15726', 'image' => '20220913010255_Airport.width-1024.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 13:02:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Relief Materials to Pakistan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: The Government of Nepal has decided to provide relief materials worth Rs 20 billion to Pakistan, which has been hit hard by floods and landslides. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: The Government of Nepal has decided to provide relief materials worth Rs 20 billion to Pakistan, which has been hit hard by floods and landslides. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Monday, Spokesperson at Ministry of Home Affairs, Phanindra Mani Pokhrel, confirmed that the government has decided to providing relief materials to Pakistan in view of the huge loss of lives and properties due to the recent floods and inundation in the neighbouring country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The relief materials are being provided as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on September 6. Nepal has also expressed condolence to the bereaved family members who lost their loves ones in the disaster, and wished for speedy recovery of the injured. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15725', 'image' => '20220913120558_Flag-Pins-Nepal-Pakistan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 12:05:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'China Assures to Clear all Containers Bound for Nepal before Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: China has assured that it will clear all containers bound for Nepal at the earliest before the festive season in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: China has assured that it will clear all containers bound for Nepal at the earliest before the festive season in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">China gave such assurance during an official meeting held between Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota and visiting Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China Li Zhanshu held in Kathmandu on Monday afternoon. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Upon request from Nepal, the Chinese side also assured that it will take necessary measures to address the widening trade gaps between the two countries and encourage its entrepreneurs to invest in Nepal, particularly in areas that support the livelihood of the Nepali people. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the talks, the two dignitaries expressed happiness over the excellent state of bilateral relations and cooperation between Nepal and China and held discussions on different matters of mutual interests. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Sapkota reiterated Nepal’s commitment to One-China Policy and not to allow any activity against China in Nepali territory, according to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker appreciated the people and Government of the China for their generous support and cooperation to Nepal’s development endeavor and expressed hope for an enhanced level of support from China for post-pandemic recovery and other development priorities of Nepal. He added that the people and Government of Nepal are grateful to the Chinese government for providing Nepal with substantial amount of medical supplies, equipment and COVID-19 vaccines. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Li expressed China’s continued support to Nepal’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, both sides agreed to further strengthen inter-parliamentary exchanges and cooperation. They also underscored the role of Parliamentary Friendship Group in each other’s parliament in further promoting goodwill and understanding between the two legislatures. Li promised to provide assistance to Nepal’s parliament as per its need and requirement at the institution level. The two leaders also exchanged views on the importance of implementing connectivity infrastructures under the Belt and Road Initiative. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the bilateral talks, Speaker Sapkota and Li signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Inter-parliamentary Cooperation between the two countries. Later in the evening, Speaker Sapkota hosted a dinner in honour of Li Zhanshu and the visiting delegation. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15724', 'image' => '20220913115559_PRO_KTM_AGNISAPKOTA_CHINISEDELAGATE_PARLIAMENTAHOUSE.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 11:34:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15982', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'WorldLink’s Festive Offer', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Internet service provider WorldLink has unveiled the 'WorldLink FaceTV' offer.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: Internet service provider WorldLink has unveiled the 'WorldLink FaceTV' offer. According to the company, customers can get three different attractive packages for subscription under the offer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under the 'First Offer', customers will get a dual band router and 200 Mbps internet service for Rs 1,000 per month (annual subscription). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the company, the customers can get Nokia Bacon 1.1 mesh router, dual band router and high speed internet as well as 200 Mbps internet with uninterrupted connection for Rs 1,000 per month (annual subscription) under the '2 routers' package.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company informed that the customers can get Nokia Bacon 1.1 mesh router, 200 Mbps internet service for Rs 1,050 per month (annual subscription) under 'Smart Offer'. In addition, customers can get set-top box and monthly NetTV for Rs 150, as per their needs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company informed that the offer will be available in 1 year, 6 months or 3 months packages. In addition, NetTV has also announced the 'NetTV FaceTV' offer. Under the offer, consumers can purchase Yasuda's 32-inch YS-32 NWN model LED TV or 43-inch YS-43 NWS model bezel-less smart TV with NetTV set-top box and one-year subscription.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the company, the price of 32-inch TV NetTV set-top box and one-year plan is Rs 14,999 including VAT. Similarly, the price of 43-inch TV NetTV set-top box and one-year plan is 29,299 rupees including VAT. The company added that the set top box deposit will be Rs 500 in both the plans.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15723', 'image' => '20220912041849_fest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 16:18:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Board Preparing to Amend Investment Guidelines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: The Insurance Board is preparing to change the investment guidelines after insurance companies were found to have deposited most of the amount collected from their clients in fixed deposits accounts of banks. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 12: The Insurance Board is preparing to change the investment guidelines after insurance companies were found to have deposited most of the amount collected from their clients in fixed deposits accounts of banks. The insurance companies complained that they were unable to diversify their investment due to the investment guidelines. Following the grudges of the insurance companies, the Insurance Board decided to amend the guidelines to allow diversify the investment of the companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We received complaints that the insurance companies were unable to invest in sectors like hydropower, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure development and other productive sectors due to the investment guidelines,” said Surya Prasad Silwal, chairman of the Insurance Board.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Therefore, we are preparing to amend the guidelines so that the insurance companies can invest in new areas,” added Silwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Insurance Board had changed the investment guidelines three years ago and allowed to diversify investment as per the suggestion of the insurance companies. However, they are still unable to invest. As a result, they focused on fixed deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The guidelines issued by the board in March 2019 has opened way to invest in infrastructure and productive sectors such as real estate business, water resources, agriculture, tourism, in addition to fixed deposits and shares. However, insurance companies do not seem to be attracted to other areas except fixed deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Insurance Board, by the end of the fiscal year 2021/22, 19 life insurance companies and 20 non-life insurance companies invested a total of Rs 527.8 billion. Among these investments, 408 billion has invested in fixed deposits of banks and financial institutions. This is 77.48 percent of the total investment of insurance companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The insurance companies have invested only 1.41 percent in infrastructure development which includes investment of Rs 7.14 billion by life insurance companies and Rs 300 million investment by non-life insurance companies. The investment of insurance companies in the real estate sector is negligible.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the guidelines, companies should invest a minimum of 40 percent of their total technical reserve in fixed deposits of commercial and infrastructure banks and a minimum of 5 percent in government bonds. Similarly, a maximum of 20 percent can be invested in development banks and a maximum of 10 percent in finance companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, they can invest up to 5 percent in real estate business, up to 10 percent in ordinary shares of listed companies, up to 20 percent in preference shares, up to 20 percent in shares of listed companies, up to 20 percent in infrastructure including agriculture, tourism and water resources, and up to 5 percent in Citizens Investment Trust and mutual funds.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15722', 'image' => '20220912041127_20220907110038_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 16:10:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15980', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Route Full of Problems ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: A parliamentary panel has found various problems related to the under-construction railway tracks in different sections of Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh route as well as the 35-Kilometer Janakpur-Jayanagar route which is already operational.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">September 12: A parliamentary panel has found various problems related to the under-construction railway tracks in different sections of Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh route as well as the 35-Kilometer Janakpur-Jayanagar route which is already operational. The workers engaged in the construction of the railway track are not being paid on time, states a report prepared by the Development and Technology Committee of the House of Representatives. As per the report, other major problems include the use of substandard materials in the construction of the trackbed and land encroachment in different places.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report prepared by a delegation of the House Committee, which visited Janakpur-Jayanagar and Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh sections in August, has pointed out more than a dozen such problems. The report has also pointed out problems like land acquisition for the construction of a bridge in Bardibas, distribution of compensation, and deforestation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Problems like acquisition of public land and community forests have also surfaced while constructing a 30 km trackbed in Sarlahi. This has delayed the construction itself. Out of the 18 km trackbed under construction in Mahottari, 3.1 km of the trackbed has problem in acquisition of public land.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The parliamentary committee found that the builders who were entrusted with the construction of this section of track handed over the construction work to local builders. The report further states that the quality of trackbed is questionable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The parliamentary team led by chairperson of the committee Kalyani Kumari Khadka had made an on-site inspection of this section on August 21, 22 and 23. The report also mentions that the quality of work has been compromised due to the workers abandoning the work abruptly after they were not paid on time. Also, the construction materials were not readily available for the construction. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Construction of railway tracks in various sections of the 73.64 kilometer Jayanagar-Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgadh route is currently underway. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Out of this, 35 kilometers of the Janakpur-Jayanagar section is already operational since the last five months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> The state-owned railway company of Nepal has reached an agreement with the Indian company Konkan Railway Corporation Limited for the Indian company to operate the trains in Nepal until the government prepares its human resources capable to undertake the responsibility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Niranjan Jha, general manager of Nepal Railway Company Limited, said that the budget for the current fiscal year, including Rs 48 million due to be paid to Konkan, has not been approved yet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">An official of the Department of Railways said that the issue of operating trains in Nepal is complicated. "There is no concrete plan yet on how to run the train in the Janakpur-Jayanagar section," said the official. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15721', 'image' => '20220912030858_Railwayy (1).jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 15:07:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15979', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Submit Memo to Foreign Minister Demanding Reopening of Tatopani Border', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Businessmen of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association (NTHBCA) have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, requesting the government to reopen the Tatopani border. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: Businessmen of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association (NTHBCA) have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, requesting the government to reopen the Tatopani border. They submitted the memorandum on Sunday asking the government to open the border in order to facilitate in creating a favourable environment for conducting business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Khadka assured the businessmen while receiving the memo that efforts are being made to open the Tatopani border immediately. He informed that talks are being held with the Chinese authorities to operate the border without any hassles. He also expressed his commitment that the issue of reopening the border will be given priority during the meeting with the Chinese side as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Foreign Minister Khadka expressed hope of positive outcome in easing supply of goods before Dashain. He said that chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Congress, Li Zhanshu will arrive in Nepal on Monday and pay a courtesy call on Tuesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Discussions are underway to resume import and export with China through the border points. We have been requesting the Chinese side to reopen the border as soon as possible. I will give special emphasis on the opening of the Tatopani border during the courtesy meeting with Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Congress, who is visiting Nepal,” said Minister Khadka.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion, Nepali Congress leader and former minister Mohan Basnet said that it is not appropriate to shut the border while blaming the rise in Covid-19 infection. He said that the government should take initiative to open the border as soon as possible so that there is no shortage of consumable goods during the upcoming festivals.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Recalling that the local residents up to 32 kilometers away from the border crossing had the facility of exemption of customs tax for personal use items before the earthquake, Basnet urged Foreign Minister Khadka to negotiate with the Chinese side to avail the same facility again. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After submitting the memorandum, Ashok Kumar Shrestha, president of NTHBCA, said that they are facing problems in the market management as the Dashain festival is just around the corner while the e border has not reopened fully. He urged the government to take the initiative to open the border as soon as possible since some traders are abandoning their business as they cannot afford the cost because of the delay in arrival of goods from China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> During the meeting, President of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hom Bahadur Basnet also emphasized that Tatopani border point should be operated without any hassles. He said that around 200 freight vehicles used to enter the country daily when the checkpoint was operating smoothly. But now, not even 10 of them are allowed entry. He complained that it is very challenging to do business in such situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15720', 'image' => '20220912021505_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 14:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15978', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'More than 1800 Vehicles Stuck in Birgunj due to Import Restriction ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: The restriction imposed by the government on the import of vehicles has caused problems not only to the importers but also to the agencies invilved in trade facilitation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: The restriction imposed by the government on the import of vehicles has caused problems not only to the importers but also to the agencies invilved in trade facilitation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">More than 1,800 vehicles are currently stuck at Birgunj customs, the largest checkpoint in terms of the volume of vehicle import.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The vehicles are stopped at the Integrated Checkpoint (ICP) Customs at Birganj. Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board, which operates the ICP, said that they are facing pressure to manage the parking area of the vehicles and also to ensure safety of the parked vehicles.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the pressure to accommodate increasing number of vehicles, the board is planning to construct a parking lot with a capacity to park 300 more vehicles.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kamal Gyawali, chief of the board, believes that the pressure to manage the vehicles at the ICP will ease after the construction of a new parking lot. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The vehicles that have arrived here have not got customs clearance. The number of vehicles is increasing each day and it is becoming difficult to manage the ICP,” said Gyawali. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Preparations are underway to build a separate warehouse and parking lot at the ICP with support from the World Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under this plan, warehouse and parking will be prepared in an area of 40,000 square meters, the board said. For this, a team from the World Bank has already conducted an on-site study of the ICP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In order to reduce the pressure on the foreign exchange reserves, the government had imposed a ban on import of some luxury items including vehicles for personal use. As a result, the cars have been piling up at the customs point after banks stopped credit investment for purchase of vehicles upon instruction from the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even the vehicles that arrived at the customs point before the government imposed the restrictions have been held at the customs. As there is no demand for new vehicles in the market at present, the importers have not shown any interest in releasing the vehicles that arrived here before the ban was imposed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Importers have to pay heavy parking fees at ICP. To reduce such expenses, they rented land in the bordering Indian city of Raxaul to store the vehicles.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15719', 'image' => '20220912012041_20220815011457_1660393906.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 13:19:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15977', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Decade Announced for Development of Sustainable Tourism ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the incumbent government had introduced the concept of 'Tourism Decade 2023-2032' for development of sustainable tourism. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 12: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the incumbent government had introduced the concept of 'Tourism Decade 2023-2032' for development of sustainable tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at an interaction with the stakeholders on Sunday, Minister Shrestha said that this concept was visualized to revive the tourism industry of Nepal battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that tourism was one of the mainstays of national economy, Minister Shrestha pledged to facilitate the tourism entrepreneurs and also promised policy reforms for the development and promotion of the tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Tourism Secretary Suresh Adhikari shed light on the concept of the Tourism Decade and said that the concept was put in place to earn foreign currencies in the long run. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to attract as many as 3.5 million foreign tourists in Nepal by 2032, according to Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Nepal Tourism Board’s (NTB) CEO Dr Dhananjay Regmi shared that Nepal would reap a lot of benefits from tourism if there was proper coordination among the concerned bodies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former State Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Yankila Sherpa urged the government to accord high priority to coordination and collaboration with the private sector for implementing programmes related to tourism promotion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">HAAN President Shreejan Rana recommended the government to introduce action-plans to bring in as many as foreign tourists as possible in Nepal during the Tourism Decade. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15718', 'image' => '20220912114233_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 11:42:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15976', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IBN to Organise Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: With a focus on informing potential investors about investment opportunities for sustainable infrastructure in Nepal and to create a conducive environment for investment, the Investment Board Nepal is organising the Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum on September 14. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 12: With a focus on informing potential investors about investment opportunities for sustainable infrastructure in Nepal and to create a conducive environment for investment, the Investment Board Nepal is organising the Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum on September 14. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The key objective of the forum is to explore ways on how foreign investment could be made more reliable and systematic in the country while ensuring sustainability of the development process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a news conference on Sunday, Chief Executive Officer of the board Sushil Bhatta said the forum would discuss the ideas of making development and construction works sustainable while making it green, resilient and inclusive. He added that the forum would be a cornerstone for resource mobilisation to achieve the net-zero carbon emissions as committed by Nepal in the COP-26. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is scheduled to inaugurate the forum, informed the board's Spokesperson Amrit Lamsal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15717', 'image' => '20220912112957_20210823044910_MG_3290.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 11:29:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15975', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Madras Security Printers Blamed for Technical Issues in Printing Smart License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 11: Chennai-based Madras Security Printers, which was awarded the contract to facilitate the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) to issue smart driving license, has failed to deliver its services as per the agreement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 11: Chennai-based Madras Security Printers, which was awarded the contract to facilitate the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) to issue smart driving license, has failed to deliver its services as per the agreement. According to the department, they are still awaiting for the company to develop the software system to a full scale. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The company’s failure to deliver the service as per the agreement has caused delay in the printing and distribution of smart driving license cards, according to the department. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department claimed that it has already paid 90 percent of the contract amount equivalent to Rs 700 billion to the company, but it has failed to deliver the system as per the agreement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department’s computer engineer Suraj Prasad Aryal shared that the DoTM has already informed the Indian company about technical issues it is facing in the smart card software system. Though the company was urged to send a technical team here to fix the issues, it did not find it necessary to respond to the call. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A letter dispatched by the department to the company states that TMO /TMSO and modules are not functioning properly, there is a problem for the online payment of tax and insurance and it is tackling with a software bug and loopholes in the security system. Moreover, the security audit of electronic driving license is yet to be carried out. Due to these reasons, the Department's Online System (EDL and VRS) remains non-functional. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, work on 18 TMS has also not moved ahead as the company has not sent the skilled human resources required for technical assistance as per the agreement. The company has to provide the software project manager, senior and junior Web Java programmer, database specialist and quality assurance specialist, but it has not completed its obligation till now. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Not only this, the company has also not fully handed over the software and hardware necessary for online renewal of the driving license and vehicle registration. The DoTM has alleged that it is facing problems frequently due to this reason. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-11', 'modified' => '2022-09-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15716', 'image' => '20220911054844_Smart-driving-licence-specimen.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-11 17:47:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15974', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepali Exporters show Lack of Interest to Export Goods using Gautam Buddha Int’l Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 11: Cargo materials were exported for the first time using Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport on July 27. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 11: Cargo materials were exported for the first time using Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport on July 27. Himalex Traders of Kathmandu had exported Nepali products through Rising Star Cargo Pvt. Ltd using the newly-built airport. The consignment of handicraft items was sent to France through a transit in Kuwait by Jazeera Airways. Since then, none other goods have been exported through the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Export of goods from the airport has not increased due to lack of interest among the businessmen. Although the exporters are using the Tribhuvan International Airport to export Nepali goods abroad, hardly anyone is interested in Bhairahawa Airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Freight Forwarders Association’s President Manoj Adhikari says that the exporters have shown little interest in using Bhairahawa-based airport for export although it has all necessary infrastructure to export their products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We cannot expect businessmen from Kathmandu to use this airport to export goods. The private sector of this area should take initiative to export goods using this airport,” says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have to identify the local products and export them through this airport,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Rupandehi district is best knowngreen vegetables and fishery. Adhikari says that vegetables, medicinal herbs, coffee, noodles, and flour can be exported through this airport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He argues that the stakeholders need to identify the products that have good potential for export and focus on production of those goods. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“NFFA is ready to facilitate the identification of the goods that have high potential for export,” says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airport has a capacity to import/export up to 500 tons of goods per day for the time being. However, exporters of this area are also using Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan International Airport instead of this airport, says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Bhishma Neupane, chairman of Siddhartha Industry and Commerce Association, says that the industrialists are confused what should they export from this airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Neupane argues that the industrialists and businessmen are in dilemma because the airport has just come into operation. The businessmen say that there are still many legal hurdles to export goods from this airport. They say that the airport lacks cold storage to export green vegetables and also customs point for export.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, chief of the Gautam Buddha International Airport Customs Office Tikaram Gaire says that the airport is fully prepared to handle export and import of goods. He says that there is no hurdle for foreign trade through this airport. The storage house in the airport will come into operation soon, says Gaire.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Only one airline company – Jazeera Airways – has been operating regular flights using this airport which came into operation on May 16 this year. The airline company has been conducting three flights a week between Bhairahawa and Kuwait.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airport has announced various concessions to attract more airline companies. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-11', 'modified' => '2022-09-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15715', 'image' => '20220911045302_GBIAAA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-11 16:52:16', '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' => '15988', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Securities Board to Issue License for New Stock Exchange Company and Brokers within this Week', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) is preparing to issue license for a new stock exchange company and brokers within this week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 13: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) is preparing to issue license for a new stock exchange company and brokers within this week. Chairman of the board Ramesh Kumar Hamal informed that the board will seek applications for the new company and broker license within this week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Hamal, the minimum paid-up capital required for the new stock exchange company is Rs 3 billion. Likewise, the capital requirement for new broker license has been fixed between Rs 200 million to Rs 1.5 billion. Brokers will be issued three different types of licenses based on their capital. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the new provision, the first kind of brokers providing limited services of stock market transaction require a minimum capital of Rs 200 million to acquire license. Likewise, the brokers providing services like share transaction, depository participant, investment consultancy, investment management and margin business need to have a minimum paid up capital of Rs 600 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the third type of license will be issued for stock dealers who must maintain a minimum capital of Rs 1.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Hamal informed that the board’s proposal to open broker license every year has been amended. According to Hamal, the board will now issue broker license once in every three years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Whoever meets the criteria set by the board can acquire license,” said Hamal. “This will create an opportunity for everyone involved in the stock market,” he added.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15729', 'image' => '20220913040730_Sebonnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 16:06:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bank Deposits and Credit Flow Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Bank deposits and credit flow continued to improve in the second week of September as well. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 13: Bank deposits and credit flow continued to improve in the second week of September as well. It has been found that the new schemes of banks to attract deposits and the upcoming festivals have had a positive impact on bank deposits and loan disbursement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, in the second week of September, bank deposits increased by Rs 8 billion, while credit flow also increased by Rs 7 billion. The total deposits of commercial banks which stood at Rs 4437 billion on September 2 climbed to Rs 4444 biillion on September 9. Although the bank deposits had decreased in the third week of August, it has been continuously rising since then. From mid-August to mid-September, deposits of Rs 12 billion have been added in the banking system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The upcoming festive season and new deposit schemes introduced by banks have been considered as the main reasons for the increase in bank deposits. Lately, banks have announced term deposit schemes for a period of 21 years, giving up to 10 times returns of the initial deposit. Similarly, bankers claim that remittance inflow has increased as Dashain, the biggest festival of Nepal, is fast approaching. This has had a positive impact in the domestic market and the financial activities have also increased. Along with the increase in deposits, banks have also started to increase loan disbursement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, the total loan disbursement of banks was Rs 4181 billion on September 2, which reached Rs 4188 biillion by September 9. From mid-August to mid-September, credit flow of banks has increased by Rs 12 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the increase in loans/deposits of banks, the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) has also improved. According to the association, the average CD ratio of commercial banks remained at 88.36 percent on September 9. Earlier, the CD ratio was 88.25 percent on September 2 and 88.42 percent on August 26. According to the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank, banks should maintain CD ratio within 90 percent. Banks that are unable to maintain this ratio will be fined for the excess amount.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15728', 'image' => '20220913031923_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 15:18:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15986', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Improves in HDI Ranking despite Fall in HDI Value: UNDP Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Nepal has improved its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking from 144th to 143rd, although the HDI value has marginally declined from 0.604 to 0.602 points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: Nepal has improved its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking from 144th to 143rd, although the HDI value has marginally declined from 0.604 to 0.602 points due to continued turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in a report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">From the lens of gender, Nepal stands at 113th position in global Gender Inequality Index. As per the report, Sri Lanka tops the list of South Asian countries in HDI ranking with its position of 73 in the world followed by Maldives (90), Bhutan (127), Bangladesh (129), India (132), Nepal (143) Pakistan (161) and Afghanistan (180).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Released after a two-year gap on September 12, the 2022 report puts the country in the medium human development category. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The HDI is a measure for assessing long- term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the UNDP, Nepal made a significant achievement in HDI value between 1990 and 2021, which improved from 0.399 to 0.602, that means an improvement of 50.9 percent in the last three decades. Between 1990 and 2021, Nepal's life expectancy at birth has improved by 13.6 years, mean years of schooling improved by 2.8 years and expected years of schooling improved by 5.4 years. Nepal's GNI per capita improved by about 146.0 percent between 1990 and 2021, the UNDP report said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report however shows Nepal continues to incur substantive loss in human development due to persisting inequalities including gender, caste, geographic regions and other categories. As the inequality in a country increases, the loss in human development also increases. The 2021 female HDI value for Nepal is 0.584 in contrast to 0.621 for males, resulting in a GDI value of 0.942, placing it into Group 3 which comprises countries with medium equality in HDI achievements between women and men. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Records show Nepal’s performance during 2019 and 2020 was comparatively low in the areas including maternal mortality, shares of parliamentary seats held by women, and women’s participation in the labour force. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gender Inequality Index measures gender inequalities (the loss in human development due to inequality between female and male achievements) in three key dimensions – reproductive health, empowerment, and labour market. Reproductive health is measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates; empowerment is measured by the shares of parliamentary seats held and population with at least some secondary education by each gender; and labour market participation is measured by the labour force participation rates for women and men. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> “The new Human Development Report indicates Nepal has largely maintained stable position over the past two years despite numerous shocks, including COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. This is because of the long-term investments over the years. Going forward, we need everyone’s wisdom, experience and more importantly the positive attitude to cope with crisis and making more choices available to the people,” said Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Nepal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15727', 'image' => '20220913022112_HDI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 14:20:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flight Schedule Affected due to Unavailability of Aviation Fuel outside Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Domestic airline companies of Nepal say that they are facing problems in arranging flight schedules due to the difficulty in availing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for commercial flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 13: Domestic airline companies of Nepal say that they are facing problems in arranging flight schedules due to the difficulty in availing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for commercial flights. They said that the problems have surfaced as aviation fuel is not easily available in most of the airports outside Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Airline Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) has drawn the attention of the government to this problem. The association has also requested the government to facilitate in supplying ATF to the airports in remote areas. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Monday, the AOAN said it has urged the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to avail aviation fuel in airports outside Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The association said that a situation has arisen where they can no longer operate commercial flights due to unavailability of fuel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement issued by AOAN says that they are facing scarcity of fuel when the festive season is just around the corner. The association further said that the passengers have been affected due to the unavailability of flights just ahead of the festivals when the airline companies were planning to provide reliable and safe flights during the festive season. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“In such a situation, the CAAN has been urged to avail aviation turbine fuel in airports outside Kathmandu as soon as possible,” reads the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dhangadhi-based depot of Nepal Oil Corporation had recently warned that there might be problems in supply of aviation fuel due to the protest launched by transport companies on September 2. The Dhangadhi depot has urged the NOC to avail fuel to the airline companies from Sinamangal-based depot until the situation normalizes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The demand for fuel is high during the festive season. The transport companies have started their protest demanding a hike in transportation fare taking advantage of this situation.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15726', 'image' => '20220913010255_Airport.width-1024.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 13:02:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Relief Materials to Pakistan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: The Government of Nepal has decided to provide relief materials worth Rs 20 billion to Pakistan, which has been hit hard by floods and landslides. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: The Government of Nepal has decided to provide relief materials worth Rs 20 billion to Pakistan, which has been hit hard by floods and landslides. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Monday, Spokesperson at Ministry of Home Affairs, Phanindra Mani Pokhrel, confirmed that the government has decided to providing relief materials to Pakistan in view of the huge loss of lives and properties due to the recent floods and inundation in the neighbouring country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The relief materials are being provided as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on September 6. Nepal has also expressed condolence to the bereaved family members who lost their loves ones in the disaster, and wished for speedy recovery of the injured. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15725', 'image' => '20220913120558_Flag-Pins-Nepal-Pakistan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 12:05:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'China Assures to Clear all Containers Bound for Nepal before Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: China has assured that it will clear all containers bound for Nepal at the earliest before the festive season in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: China has assured that it will clear all containers bound for Nepal at the earliest before the festive season in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">China gave such assurance during an official meeting held between Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota and visiting Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China Li Zhanshu held in Kathmandu on Monday afternoon. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Upon request from Nepal, the Chinese side also assured that it will take necessary measures to address the widening trade gaps between the two countries and encourage its entrepreneurs to invest in Nepal, particularly in areas that support the livelihood of the Nepali people. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the talks, the two dignitaries expressed happiness over the excellent state of bilateral relations and cooperation between Nepal and China and held discussions on different matters of mutual interests. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Sapkota reiterated Nepal’s commitment to One-China Policy and not to allow any activity against China in Nepali territory, according to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker appreciated the people and Government of the China for their generous support and cooperation to Nepal’s development endeavor and expressed hope for an enhanced level of support from China for post-pandemic recovery and other development priorities of Nepal. He added that the people and Government of Nepal are grateful to the Chinese government for providing Nepal with substantial amount of medical supplies, equipment and COVID-19 vaccines. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Li expressed China’s continued support to Nepal’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, both sides agreed to further strengthen inter-parliamentary exchanges and cooperation. They also underscored the role of Parliamentary Friendship Group in each other’s parliament in further promoting goodwill and understanding between the two legislatures. Li promised to provide assistance to Nepal’s parliament as per its need and requirement at the institution level. The two leaders also exchanged views on the importance of implementing connectivity infrastructures under the Belt and Road Initiative. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the bilateral talks, Speaker Sapkota and Li signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Inter-parliamentary Cooperation between the two countries. Later in the evening, Speaker Sapkota hosted a dinner in honour of Li Zhanshu and the visiting delegation. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15724', 'image' => '20220913115559_PRO_KTM_AGNISAPKOTA_CHINISEDELAGATE_PARLIAMENTAHOUSE.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 11:34:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15982', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'WorldLink’s Festive Offer', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Internet service provider WorldLink has unveiled the 'WorldLink FaceTV' offer.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: Internet service provider WorldLink has unveiled the 'WorldLink FaceTV' offer. According to the company, customers can get three different attractive packages for subscription under the offer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under the 'First Offer', customers will get a dual band router and 200 Mbps internet service for Rs 1,000 per month (annual subscription). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the company, the customers can get Nokia Bacon 1.1 mesh router, dual band router and high speed internet as well as 200 Mbps internet with uninterrupted connection for Rs 1,000 per month (annual subscription) under the '2 routers' package.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company informed that the customers can get Nokia Bacon 1.1 mesh router, 200 Mbps internet service for Rs 1,050 per month (annual subscription) under 'Smart Offer'. In addition, customers can get set-top box and monthly NetTV for Rs 150, as per their needs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company informed that the offer will be available in 1 year, 6 months or 3 months packages. In addition, NetTV has also announced the 'NetTV FaceTV' offer. Under the offer, consumers can purchase Yasuda's 32-inch YS-32 NWN model LED TV or 43-inch YS-43 NWS model bezel-less smart TV with NetTV set-top box and one-year subscription.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the company, the price of 32-inch TV NetTV set-top box and one-year plan is Rs 14,999 including VAT. Similarly, the price of 43-inch TV NetTV set-top box and one-year plan is 29,299 rupees including VAT. The company added that the set top box deposit will be Rs 500 in both the plans.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15723', 'image' => '20220912041849_fest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 16:18:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Board Preparing to Amend Investment Guidelines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: The Insurance Board is preparing to change the investment guidelines after insurance companies were found to have deposited most of the amount collected from their clients in fixed deposits accounts of banks. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 12: The Insurance Board is preparing to change the investment guidelines after insurance companies were found to have deposited most of the amount collected from their clients in fixed deposits accounts of banks. The insurance companies complained that they were unable to diversify their investment due to the investment guidelines. Following the grudges of the insurance companies, the Insurance Board decided to amend the guidelines to allow diversify the investment of the companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We received complaints that the insurance companies were unable to invest in sectors like hydropower, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure development and other productive sectors due to the investment guidelines,” said Surya Prasad Silwal, chairman of the Insurance Board.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Therefore, we are preparing to amend the guidelines so that the insurance companies can invest in new areas,” added Silwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Insurance Board had changed the investment guidelines three years ago and allowed to diversify investment as per the suggestion of the insurance companies. However, they are still unable to invest. As a result, they focused on fixed deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The guidelines issued by the board in March 2019 has opened way to invest in infrastructure and productive sectors such as real estate business, water resources, agriculture, tourism, in addition to fixed deposits and shares. However, insurance companies do not seem to be attracted to other areas except fixed deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Insurance Board, by the end of the fiscal year 2021/22, 19 life insurance companies and 20 non-life insurance companies invested a total of Rs 527.8 billion. Among these investments, 408 billion has invested in fixed deposits of banks and financial institutions. This is 77.48 percent of the total investment of insurance companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The insurance companies have invested only 1.41 percent in infrastructure development which includes investment of Rs 7.14 billion by life insurance companies and Rs 300 million investment by non-life insurance companies. The investment of insurance companies in the real estate sector is negligible.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the guidelines, companies should invest a minimum of 40 percent of their total technical reserve in fixed deposits of commercial and infrastructure banks and a minimum of 5 percent in government bonds. Similarly, a maximum of 20 percent can be invested in development banks and a maximum of 10 percent in finance companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, they can invest up to 5 percent in real estate business, up to 10 percent in ordinary shares of listed companies, up to 20 percent in preference shares, up to 20 percent in shares of listed companies, up to 20 percent in infrastructure including agriculture, tourism and water resources, and up to 5 percent in Citizens Investment Trust and mutual funds.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15722', 'image' => '20220912041127_20220907110038_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 16:10:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15980', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Route Full of Problems ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: A parliamentary panel has found various problems related to the under-construction railway tracks in different sections of Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh route as well as the 35-Kilometer Janakpur-Jayanagar route which is already operational.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">September 12: A parliamentary panel has found various problems related to the under-construction railway tracks in different sections of Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh route as well as the 35-Kilometer Janakpur-Jayanagar route which is already operational. The workers engaged in the construction of the railway track are not being paid on time, states a report prepared by the Development and Technology Committee of the House of Representatives. As per the report, other major problems include the use of substandard materials in the construction of the trackbed and land encroachment in different places.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report prepared by a delegation of the House Committee, which visited Janakpur-Jayanagar and Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh sections in August, has pointed out more than a dozen such problems. The report has also pointed out problems like land acquisition for the construction of a bridge in Bardibas, distribution of compensation, and deforestation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Problems like acquisition of public land and community forests have also surfaced while constructing a 30 km trackbed in Sarlahi. This has delayed the construction itself. Out of the 18 km trackbed under construction in Mahottari, 3.1 km of the trackbed has problem in acquisition of public land.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The parliamentary committee found that the builders who were entrusted with the construction of this section of track handed over the construction work to local builders. The report further states that the quality of trackbed is questionable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The parliamentary team led by chairperson of the committee Kalyani Kumari Khadka had made an on-site inspection of this section on August 21, 22 and 23. The report also mentions that the quality of work has been compromised due to the workers abandoning the work abruptly after they were not paid on time. Also, the construction materials were not readily available for the construction. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Construction of railway tracks in various sections of the 73.64 kilometer Jayanagar-Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgadh route is currently underway. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Out of this, 35 kilometers of the Janakpur-Jayanagar section is already operational since the last five months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> The state-owned railway company of Nepal has reached an agreement with the Indian company Konkan Railway Corporation Limited for the Indian company to operate the trains in Nepal until the government prepares its human resources capable to undertake the responsibility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Niranjan Jha, general manager of Nepal Railway Company Limited, said that the budget for the current fiscal year, including Rs 48 million due to be paid to Konkan, has not been approved yet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">An official of the Department of Railways said that the issue of operating trains in Nepal is complicated. "There is no concrete plan yet on how to run the train in the Janakpur-Jayanagar section," said the official. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15721', 'image' => '20220912030858_Railwayy (1).jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 15:07:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15979', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Submit Memo to Foreign Minister Demanding Reopening of Tatopani Border', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Businessmen of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association (NTHBCA) have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, requesting the government to reopen the Tatopani border. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: Businessmen of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association (NTHBCA) have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, requesting the government to reopen the Tatopani border. They submitted the memorandum on Sunday asking the government to open the border in order to facilitate in creating a favourable environment for conducting business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Khadka assured the businessmen while receiving the memo that efforts are being made to open the Tatopani border immediately. He informed that talks are being held with the Chinese authorities to operate the border without any hassles. He also expressed his commitment that the issue of reopening the border will be given priority during the meeting with the Chinese side as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Foreign Minister Khadka expressed hope of positive outcome in easing supply of goods before Dashain. He said that chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Congress, Li Zhanshu will arrive in Nepal on Monday and pay a courtesy call on Tuesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Discussions are underway to resume import and export with China through the border points. We have been requesting the Chinese side to reopen the border as soon as possible. I will give special emphasis on the opening of the Tatopani border during the courtesy meeting with Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Congress, who is visiting Nepal,” said Minister Khadka.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion, Nepali Congress leader and former minister Mohan Basnet said that it is not appropriate to shut the border while blaming the rise in Covid-19 infection. He said that the government should take initiative to open the border as soon as possible so that there is no shortage of consumable goods during the upcoming festivals.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Recalling that the local residents up to 32 kilometers away from the border crossing had the facility of exemption of customs tax for personal use items before the earthquake, Basnet urged Foreign Minister Khadka to negotiate with the Chinese side to avail the same facility again. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After submitting the memorandum, Ashok Kumar Shrestha, president of NTHBCA, said that they are facing problems in the market management as the Dashain festival is just around the corner while the e border has not reopened fully. He urged the government to take the initiative to open the border as soon as possible since some traders are abandoning their business as they cannot afford the cost because of the delay in arrival of goods from China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> During the meeting, President of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hom Bahadur Basnet also emphasized that Tatopani border point should be operated without any hassles. He said that around 200 freight vehicles used to enter the country daily when the checkpoint was operating smoothly. But now, not even 10 of them are allowed entry. He complained that it is very challenging to do business in such situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15720', 'image' => '20220912021505_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 14:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15978', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'More than 1800 Vehicles Stuck in Birgunj due to Import Restriction ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: The restriction imposed by the government on the import of vehicles has caused problems not only to the importers but also to the agencies invilved in trade facilitation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: The restriction imposed by the government on the import of vehicles has caused problems not only to the importers but also to the agencies invilved in trade facilitation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">More than 1,800 vehicles are currently stuck at Birgunj customs, the largest checkpoint in terms of the volume of vehicle import.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The vehicles are stopped at the Integrated Checkpoint (ICP) Customs at Birganj. Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board, which operates the ICP, said that they are facing pressure to manage the parking area of the vehicles and also to ensure safety of the parked vehicles.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the pressure to accommodate increasing number of vehicles, the board is planning to construct a parking lot with a capacity to park 300 more vehicles.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kamal Gyawali, chief of the board, believes that the pressure to manage the vehicles at the ICP will ease after the construction of a new parking lot. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The vehicles that have arrived here have not got customs clearance. The number of vehicles is increasing each day and it is becoming difficult to manage the ICP,” said Gyawali. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Preparations are underway to build a separate warehouse and parking lot at the ICP with support from the World Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under this plan, warehouse and parking will be prepared in an area of 40,000 square meters, the board said. For this, a team from the World Bank has already conducted an on-site study of the ICP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In order to reduce the pressure on the foreign exchange reserves, the government had imposed a ban on import of some luxury items including vehicles for personal use. As a result, the cars have been piling up at the customs point after banks stopped credit investment for purchase of vehicles upon instruction from the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even the vehicles that arrived at the customs point before the government imposed the restrictions have been held at the customs. As there is no demand for new vehicles in the market at present, the importers have not shown any interest in releasing the vehicles that arrived here before the ban was imposed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Importers have to pay heavy parking fees at ICP. To reduce such expenses, they rented land in the bordering Indian city of Raxaul to store the vehicles.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15719', 'image' => '20220912012041_20220815011457_1660393906.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 13:19:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15977', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Decade Announced for Development of Sustainable Tourism ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the incumbent government had introduced the concept of 'Tourism Decade 2023-2032' for development of sustainable tourism. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 12: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the incumbent government had introduced the concept of 'Tourism Decade 2023-2032' for development of sustainable tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at an interaction with the stakeholders on Sunday, Minister Shrestha said that this concept was visualized to revive the tourism industry of Nepal battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that tourism was one of the mainstays of national economy, Minister Shrestha pledged to facilitate the tourism entrepreneurs and also promised policy reforms for the development and promotion of the tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Tourism Secretary Suresh Adhikari shed light on the concept of the Tourism Decade and said that the concept was put in place to earn foreign currencies in the long run. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to attract as many as 3.5 million foreign tourists in Nepal by 2032, according to Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Nepal Tourism Board’s (NTB) CEO Dr Dhananjay Regmi shared that Nepal would reap a lot of benefits from tourism if there was proper coordination among the concerned bodies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former State Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Yankila Sherpa urged the government to accord high priority to coordination and collaboration with the private sector for implementing programmes related to tourism promotion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">HAAN President Shreejan Rana recommended the government to introduce action-plans to bring in as many as foreign tourists as possible in Nepal during the Tourism Decade. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15718', 'image' => '20220912114233_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 11:42:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15976', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IBN to Organise Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: With a focus on informing potential investors about investment opportunities for sustainable infrastructure in Nepal and to create a conducive environment for investment, the Investment Board Nepal is organising the Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum on September 14. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 12: With a focus on informing potential investors about investment opportunities for sustainable infrastructure in Nepal and to create a conducive environment for investment, the Investment Board Nepal is organising the Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum on September 14. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The key objective of the forum is to explore ways on how foreign investment could be made more reliable and systematic in the country while ensuring sustainability of the development process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a news conference on Sunday, Chief Executive Officer of the board Sushil Bhatta said the forum would discuss the ideas of making development and construction works sustainable while making it green, resilient and inclusive. He added that the forum would be a cornerstone for resource mobilisation to achieve the net-zero carbon emissions as committed by Nepal in the COP-26. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is scheduled to inaugurate the forum, informed the board's Spokesperson Amrit Lamsal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15717', 'image' => '20220912112957_20210823044910_MG_3290.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 11:29:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15975', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Madras Security Printers Blamed for Technical Issues in Printing Smart License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 11: Chennai-based Madras Security Printers, which was awarded the contract to facilitate the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) to issue smart driving license, has failed to deliver its services as per the agreement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 11: Chennai-based Madras Security Printers, which was awarded the contract to facilitate the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) to issue smart driving license, has failed to deliver its services as per the agreement. According to the department, they are still awaiting for the company to develop the software system to a full scale. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The company’s failure to deliver the service as per the agreement has caused delay in the printing and distribution of smart driving license cards, according to the department. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department claimed that it has already paid 90 percent of the contract amount equivalent to Rs 700 billion to the company, but it has failed to deliver the system as per the agreement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department’s computer engineer Suraj Prasad Aryal shared that the DoTM has already informed the Indian company about technical issues it is facing in the smart card software system. Though the company was urged to send a technical team here to fix the issues, it did not find it necessary to respond to the call. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A letter dispatched by the department to the company states that TMO /TMSO and modules are not functioning properly, there is a problem for the online payment of tax and insurance and it is tackling with a software bug and loopholes in the security system. Moreover, the security audit of electronic driving license is yet to be carried out. Due to these reasons, the Department's Online System (EDL and VRS) remains non-functional. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, work on 18 TMS has also not moved ahead as the company has not sent the skilled human resources required for technical assistance as per the agreement. The company has to provide the software project manager, senior and junior Web Java programmer, database specialist and quality assurance specialist, but it has not completed its obligation till now. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Not only this, the company has also not fully handed over the software and hardware necessary for online renewal of the driving license and vehicle registration. The DoTM has alleged that it is facing problems frequently due to this reason. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-11', 'modified' => '2022-09-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15716', 'image' => '20220911054844_Smart-driving-licence-specimen.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-11 17:47:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15974', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepali Exporters show Lack of Interest to Export Goods using Gautam Buddha Int’l Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 11: Cargo materials were exported for the first time using Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport on July 27. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 11: Cargo materials were exported for the first time using Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport on July 27. Himalex Traders of Kathmandu had exported Nepali products through Rising Star Cargo Pvt. Ltd using the newly-built airport. The consignment of handicraft items was sent to France through a transit in Kuwait by Jazeera Airways. Since then, none other goods have been exported through the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Export of goods from the airport has not increased due to lack of interest among the businessmen. Although the exporters are using the Tribhuvan International Airport to export Nepali goods abroad, hardly anyone is interested in Bhairahawa Airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Freight Forwarders Association’s President Manoj Adhikari says that the exporters have shown little interest in using Bhairahawa-based airport for export although it has all necessary infrastructure to export their products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We cannot expect businessmen from Kathmandu to use this airport to export goods. The private sector of this area should take initiative to export goods using this airport,” says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have to identify the local products and export them through this airport,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Rupandehi district is best knowngreen vegetables and fishery. Adhikari says that vegetables, medicinal herbs, coffee, noodles, and flour can be exported through this airport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He argues that the stakeholders need to identify the products that have good potential for export and focus on production of those goods. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“NFFA is ready to facilitate the identification of the goods that have high potential for export,” says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airport has a capacity to import/export up to 500 tons of goods per day for the time being. However, exporters of this area are also using Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan International Airport instead of this airport, says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Bhishma Neupane, chairman of Siddhartha Industry and Commerce Association, says that the industrialists are confused what should they export from this airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Neupane argues that the industrialists and businessmen are in dilemma because the airport has just come into operation. The businessmen say that there are still many legal hurdles to export goods from this airport. They say that the airport lacks cold storage to export green vegetables and also customs point for export.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, chief of the Gautam Buddha International Airport Customs Office Tikaram Gaire says that the airport is fully prepared to handle export and import of goods. He says that there is no hurdle for foreign trade through this airport. The storage house in the airport will come into operation soon, says Gaire.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Only one airline company – Jazeera Airways – has been operating regular flights using this airport which came into operation on May 16 this year. The airline company has been conducting three flights a week between Bhairahawa and Kuwait.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airport has announced various concessions to attract more airline companies. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-11', 'modified' => '2022-09-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15715', 'image' => '20220911045302_GBIAAA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-11 16:52:16', '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
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 133]file not found!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' => '15988', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Securities Board to Issue License for New Stock Exchange Company and Brokers within this Week', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) is preparing to issue license for a new stock exchange company and brokers within this week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 13: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) is preparing to issue license for a new stock exchange company and brokers within this week. Chairman of the board Ramesh Kumar Hamal informed that the board will seek applications for the new company and broker license within this week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Hamal, the minimum paid-up capital required for the new stock exchange company is Rs 3 billion. Likewise, the capital requirement for new broker license has been fixed between Rs 200 million to Rs 1.5 billion. Brokers will be issued three different types of licenses based on their capital. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the new provision, the first kind of brokers providing limited services of stock market transaction require a minimum capital of Rs 200 million to acquire license. Likewise, the brokers providing services like share transaction, depository participant, investment consultancy, investment management and margin business need to have a minimum paid up capital of Rs 600 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the third type of license will be issued for stock dealers who must maintain a minimum capital of Rs 1.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Hamal informed that the board’s proposal to open broker license every year has been amended. According to Hamal, the board will now issue broker license once in every three years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Whoever meets the criteria set by the board can acquire license,” said Hamal. “This will create an opportunity for everyone involved in the stock market,” he added.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15729', 'image' => '20220913040730_Sebonnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 16:06:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bank Deposits and Credit Flow Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Bank deposits and credit flow continued to improve in the second week of September as well. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 13: Bank deposits and credit flow continued to improve in the second week of September as well. It has been found that the new schemes of banks to attract deposits and the upcoming festivals have had a positive impact on bank deposits and loan disbursement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, in the second week of September, bank deposits increased by Rs 8 billion, while credit flow also increased by Rs 7 billion. The total deposits of commercial banks which stood at Rs 4437 billion on September 2 climbed to Rs 4444 biillion on September 9. Although the bank deposits had decreased in the third week of August, it has been continuously rising since then. From mid-August to mid-September, deposits of Rs 12 billion have been added in the banking system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The upcoming festive season and new deposit schemes introduced by banks have been considered as the main reasons for the increase in bank deposits. Lately, banks have announced term deposit schemes for a period of 21 years, giving up to 10 times returns of the initial deposit. Similarly, bankers claim that remittance inflow has increased as Dashain, the biggest festival of Nepal, is fast approaching. This has had a positive impact in the domestic market and the financial activities have also increased. Along with the increase in deposits, banks have also started to increase loan disbursement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, the total loan disbursement of banks was Rs 4181 billion on September 2, which reached Rs 4188 biillion by September 9. From mid-August to mid-September, credit flow of banks has increased by Rs 12 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the increase in loans/deposits of banks, the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) has also improved. According to the association, the average CD ratio of commercial banks remained at 88.36 percent on September 9. Earlier, the CD ratio was 88.25 percent on September 2 and 88.42 percent on August 26. According to the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank, banks should maintain CD ratio within 90 percent. Banks that are unable to maintain this ratio will be fined for the excess amount.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15728', 'image' => '20220913031923_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 15:18:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15986', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Improves in HDI Ranking despite Fall in HDI Value: UNDP Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Nepal has improved its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking from 144th to 143rd, although the HDI value has marginally declined from 0.604 to 0.602 points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: Nepal has improved its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking from 144th to 143rd, although the HDI value has marginally declined from 0.604 to 0.602 points due to continued turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in a report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">From the lens of gender, Nepal stands at 113th position in global Gender Inequality Index. As per the report, Sri Lanka tops the list of South Asian countries in HDI ranking with its position of 73 in the world followed by Maldives (90), Bhutan (127), Bangladesh (129), India (132), Nepal (143) Pakistan (161) and Afghanistan (180).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Released after a two-year gap on September 12, the 2022 report puts the country in the medium human development category. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The HDI is a measure for assessing long- term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the UNDP, Nepal made a significant achievement in HDI value between 1990 and 2021, which improved from 0.399 to 0.602, that means an improvement of 50.9 percent in the last three decades. Between 1990 and 2021, Nepal's life expectancy at birth has improved by 13.6 years, mean years of schooling improved by 2.8 years and expected years of schooling improved by 5.4 years. Nepal's GNI per capita improved by about 146.0 percent between 1990 and 2021, the UNDP report said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report however shows Nepal continues to incur substantive loss in human development due to persisting inequalities including gender, caste, geographic regions and other categories. As the inequality in a country increases, the loss in human development also increases. The 2021 female HDI value for Nepal is 0.584 in contrast to 0.621 for males, resulting in a GDI value of 0.942, placing it into Group 3 which comprises countries with medium equality in HDI achievements between women and men. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Records show Nepal’s performance during 2019 and 2020 was comparatively low in the areas including maternal mortality, shares of parliamentary seats held by women, and women’s participation in the labour force. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gender Inequality Index measures gender inequalities (the loss in human development due to inequality between female and male achievements) in three key dimensions – reproductive health, empowerment, and labour market. Reproductive health is measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates; empowerment is measured by the shares of parliamentary seats held and population with at least some secondary education by each gender; and labour market participation is measured by the labour force participation rates for women and men. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> “The new Human Development Report indicates Nepal has largely maintained stable position over the past two years despite numerous shocks, including COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. This is because of the long-term investments over the years. Going forward, we need everyone’s wisdom, experience and more importantly the positive attitude to cope with crisis and making more choices available to the people,” said Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Nepal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15727', 'image' => '20220913022112_HDI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 14:20:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flight Schedule Affected due to Unavailability of Aviation Fuel outside Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: Domestic airline companies of Nepal say that they are facing problems in arranging flight schedules due to the difficulty in availing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for commercial flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 13: Domestic airline companies of Nepal say that they are facing problems in arranging flight schedules due to the difficulty in availing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for commercial flights. They said that the problems have surfaced as aviation fuel is not easily available in most of the airports outside Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Airline Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) has drawn the attention of the government to this problem. The association has also requested the government to facilitate in supplying ATF to the airports in remote areas. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Monday, the AOAN said it has urged the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to avail aviation fuel in airports outside Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The association said that a situation has arisen where they can no longer operate commercial flights due to unavailability of fuel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement issued by AOAN says that they are facing scarcity of fuel when the festive season is just around the corner. The association further said that the passengers have been affected due to the unavailability of flights just ahead of the festivals when the airline companies were planning to provide reliable and safe flights during the festive season. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“In such a situation, the CAAN has been urged to avail aviation turbine fuel in airports outside Kathmandu as soon as possible,” reads the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dhangadhi-based depot of Nepal Oil Corporation had recently warned that there might be problems in supply of aviation fuel due to the protest launched by transport companies on September 2. The Dhangadhi depot has urged the NOC to avail fuel to the airline companies from Sinamangal-based depot until the situation normalizes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The demand for fuel is high during the festive season. The transport companies have started their protest demanding a hike in transportation fare taking advantage of this situation.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15726', 'image' => '20220913010255_Airport.width-1024.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 13:02:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Relief Materials to Pakistan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: The Government of Nepal has decided to provide relief materials worth Rs 20 billion to Pakistan, which has been hit hard by floods and landslides. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: The Government of Nepal has decided to provide relief materials worth Rs 20 billion to Pakistan, which has been hit hard by floods and landslides. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Monday, Spokesperson at Ministry of Home Affairs, Phanindra Mani Pokhrel, confirmed that the government has decided to providing relief materials to Pakistan in view of the huge loss of lives and properties due to the recent floods and inundation in the neighbouring country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The relief materials are being provided as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on September 6. Nepal has also expressed condolence to the bereaved family members who lost their loves ones in the disaster, and wished for speedy recovery of the injured. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15725', 'image' => '20220913120558_Flag-Pins-Nepal-Pakistan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 12:05:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'China Assures to Clear all Containers Bound for Nepal before Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 13: China has assured that it will clear all containers bound for Nepal at the earliest before the festive season in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 13: China has assured that it will clear all containers bound for Nepal at the earliest before the festive season in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">China gave such assurance during an official meeting held between Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota and visiting Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China Li Zhanshu held in Kathmandu on Monday afternoon. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Upon request from Nepal, the Chinese side also assured that it will take necessary measures to address the widening trade gaps between the two countries and encourage its entrepreneurs to invest in Nepal, particularly in areas that support the livelihood of the Nepali people. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the talks, the two dignitaries expressed happiness over the excellent state of bilateral relations and cooperation between Nepal and China and held discussions on different matters of mutual interests. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Sapkota reiterated Nepal’s commitment to One-China Policy and not to allow any activity against China in Nepali territory, according to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker appreciated the people and Government of the China for their generous support and cooperation to Nepal’s development endeavor and expressed hope for an enhanced level of support from China for post-pandemic recovery and other development priorities of Nepal. He added that the people and Government of Nepal are grateful to the Chinese government for providing Nepal with substantial amount of medical supplies, equipment and COVID-19 vaccines. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Li expressed China’s continued support to Nepal’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, both sides agreed to further strengthen inter-parliamentary exchanges and cooperation. They also underscored the role of Parliamentary Friendship Group in each other’s parliament in further promoting goodwill and understanding between the two legislatures. Li promised to provide assistance to Nepal’s parliament as per its need and requirement at the institution level. The two leaders also exchanged views on the importance of implementing connectivity infrastructures under the Belt and Road Initiative. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the bilateral talks, Speaker Sapkota and Li signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Inter-parliamentary Cooperation between the two countries. Later in the evening, Speaker Sapkota hosted a dinner in honour of Li Zhanshu and the visiting delegation. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-13', 'modified' => '2022-09-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15724', 'image' => '20220913115559_PRO_KTM_AGNISAPKOTA_CHINISEDELAGATE_PARLIAMENTAHOUSE.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-13 11:34:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15982', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'WorldLink’s Festive Offer', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Internet service provider WorldLink has unveiled the 'WorldLink FaceTV' offer.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: Internet service provider WorldLink has unveiled the 'WorldLink FaceTV' offer. According to the company, customers can get three different attractive packages for subscription under the offer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under the 'First Offer', customers will get a dual band router and 200 Mbps internet service for Rs 1,000 per month (annual subscription). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the company, the customers can get Nokia Bacon 1.1 mesh router, dual band router and high speed internet as well as 200 Mbps internet with uninterrupted connection for Rs 1,000 per month (annual subscription) under the '2 routers' package.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company informed that the customers can get Nokia Bacon 1.1 mesh router, 200 Mbps internet service for Rs 1,050 per month (annual subscription) under 'Smart Offer'. In addition, customers can get set-top box and monthly NetTV for Rs 150, as per their needs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company informed that the offer will be available in 1 year, 6 months or 3 months packages. In addition, NetTV has also announced the 'NetTV FaceTV' offer. Under the offer, consumers can purchase Yasuda's 32-inch YS-32 NWN model LED TV or 43-inch YS-43 NWS model bezel-less smart TV with NetTV set-top box and one-year subscription.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the company, the price of 32-inch TV NetTV set-top box and one-year plan is Rs 14,999 including VAT. Similarly, the price of 43-inch TV NetTV set-top box and one-year plan is 29,299 rupees including VAT. The company added that the set top box deposit will be Rs 500 in both the plans.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15723', 'image' => '20220912041849_fest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 16:18:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Board Preparing to Amend Investment Guidelines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: The Insurance Board is preparing to change the investment guidelines after insurance companies were found to have deposited most of the amount collected from their clients in fixed deposits accounts of banks. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 12: The Insurance Board is preparing to change the investment guidelines after insurance companies were found to have deposited most of the amount collected from their clients in fixed deposits accounts of banks. The insurance companies complained that they were unable to diversify their investment due to the investment guidelines. Following the grudges of the insurance companies, the Insurance Board decided to amend the guidelines to allow diversify the investment of the companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We received complaints that the insurance companies were unable to invest in sectors like hydropower, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure development and other productive sectors due to the investment guidelines,” said Surya Prasad Silwal, chairman of the Insurance Board.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Therefore, we are preparing to amend the guidelines so that the insurance companies can invest in new areas,” added Silwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Insurance Board had changed the investment guidelines three years ago and allowed to diversify investment as per the suggestion of the insurance companies. However, they are still unable to invest. As a result, they focused on fixed deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The guidelines issued by the board in March 2019 has opened way to invest in infrastructure and productive sectors such as real estate business, water resources, agriculture, tourism, in addition to fixed deposits and shares. However, insurance companies do not seem to be attracted to other areas except fixed deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Insurance Board, by the end of the fiscal year 2021/22, 19 life insurance companies and 20 non-life insurance companies invested a total of Rs 527.8 billion. Among these investments, 408 billion has invested in fixed deposits of banks and financial institutions. This is 77.48 percent of the total investment of insurance companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The insurance companies have invested only 1.41 percent in infrastructure development which includes investment of Rs 7.14 billion by life insurance companies and Rs 300 million investment by non-life insurance companies. The investment of insurance companies in the real estate sector is negligible.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the guidelines, companies should invest a minimum of 40 percent of their total technical reserve in fixed deposits of commercial and infrastructure banks and a minimum of 5 percent in government bonds. Similarly, a maximum of 20 percent can be invested in development banks and a maximum of 10 percent in finance companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, they can invest up to 5 percent in real estate business, up to 10 percent in ordinary shares of listed companies, up to 20 percent in preference shares, up to 20 percent in shares of listed companies, up to 20 percent in infrastructure including agriculture, tourism and water resources, and up to 5 percent in Citizens Investment Trust and mutual funds.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15722', 'image' => '20220912041127_20220907110038_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 16:10:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15980', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Route Full of Problems ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: A parliamentary panel has found various problems related to the under-construction railway tracks in different sections of Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh route as well as the 35-Kilometer Janakpur-Jayanagar route which is already operational.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">September 12: A parliamentary panel has found various problems related to the under-construction railway tracks in different sections of Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh route as well as the 35-Kilometer Janakpur-Jayanagar route which is already operational. The workers engaged in the construction of the railway track are not being paid on time, states a report prepared by the Development and Technology Committee of the House of Representatives. As per the report, other major problems include the use of substandard materials in the construction of the trackbed and land encroachment in different places.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report prepared by a delegation of the House Committee, which visited Janakpur-Jayanagar and Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgarh sections in August, has pointed out more than a dozen such problems. The report has also pointed out problems like land acquisition for the construction of a bridge in Bardibas, distribution of compensation, and deforestation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Problems like acquisition of public land and community forests have also surfaced while constructing a 30 km trackbed in Sarlahi. This has delayed the construction itself. Out of the 18 km trackbed under construction in Mahottari, 3.1 km of the trackbed has problem in acquisition of public land.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The parliamentary committee found that the builders who were entrusted with the construction of this section of track handed over the construction work to local builders. The report further states that the quality of trackbed is questionable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The parliamentary team led by chairperson of the committee Kalyani Kumari Khadka had made an on-site inspection of this section on August 21, 22 and 23. The report also mentions that the quality of work has been compromised due to the workers abandoning the work abruptly after they were not paid on time. Also, the construction materials were not readily available for the construction. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Construction of railway tracks in various sections of the 73.64 kilometer Jayanagar-Janakpur-Kurtha-Bardibas-Nijgadh route is currently underway. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Out of this, 35 kilometers of the Janakpur-Jayanagar section is already operational since the last five months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> The state-owned railway company of Nepal has reached an agreement with the Indian company Konkan Railway Corporation Limited for the Indian company to operate the trains in Nepal until the government prepares its human resources capable to undertake the responsibility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Niranjan Jha, general manager of Nepal Railway Company Limited, said that the budget for the current fiscal year, including Rs 48 million due to be paid to Konkan, has not been approved yet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">An official of the Department of Railways said that the issue of operating trains in Nepal is complicated. "There is no concrete plan yet on how to run the train in the Janakpur-Jayanagar section," said the official. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15721', 'image' => '20220912030858_Railwayy (1).jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 15:07:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15979', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Submit Memo to Foreign Minister Demanding Reopening of Tatopani Border', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Businessmen of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association (NTHBCA) have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, requesting the government to reopen the Tatopani border. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: Businessmen of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association (NTHBCA) have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, requesting the government to reopen the Tatopani border. They submitted the memorandum on Sunday asking the government to open the border in order to facilitate in creating a favourable environment for conducting business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Khadka assured the businessmen while receiving the memo that efforts are being made to open the Tatopani border immediately. He informed that talks are being held with the Chinese authorities to operate the border without any hassles. He also expressed his commitment that the issue of reopening the border will be given priority during the meeting with the Chinese side as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Foreign Minister Khadka expressed hope of positive outcome in easing supply of goods before Dashain. He said that chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Congress, Li Zhanshu will arrive in Nepal on Monday and pay a courtesy call on Tuesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Discussions are underway to resume import and export with China through the border points. We have been requesting the Chinese side to reopen the border as soon as possible. I will give special emphasis on the opening of the Tatopani border during the courtesy meeting with Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Congress, who is visiting Nepal,” said Minister Khadka.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion, Nepali Congress leader and former minister Mohan Basnet said that it is not appropriate to shut the border while blaming the rise in Covid-19 infection. He said that the government should take initiative to open the border as soon as possible so that there is no shortage of consumable goods during the upcoming festivals.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Recalling that the local residents up to 32 kilometers away from the border crossing had the facility of exemption of customs tax for personal use items before the earthquake, Basnet urged Foreign Minister Khadka to negotiate with the Chinese side to avail the same facility again. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After submitting the memorandum, Ashok Kumar Shrestha, president of NTHBCA, said that they are facing problems in the market management as the Dashain festival is just around the corner while the e border has not reopened fully. He urged the government to take the initiative to open the border as soon as possible since some traders are abandoning their business as they cannot afford the cost because of the delay in arrival of goods from China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> During the meeting, President of Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hom Bahadur Basnet also emphasized that Tatopani border point should be operated without any hassles. He said that around 200 freight vehicles used to enter the country daily when the checkpoint was operating smoothly. But now, not even 10 of them are allowed entry. He complained that it is very challenging to do business in such situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15720', 'image' => '20220912021505_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 14:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15978', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'More than 1800 Vehicles Stuck in Birgunj due to Import Restriction ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: The restriction imposed by the government on the import of vehicles has caused problems not only to the importers but also to the agencies invilved in trade facilitation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 12: The restriction imposed by the government on the import of vehicles has caused problems not only to the importers but also to the agencies invilved in trade facilitation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">More than 1,800 vehicles are currently stuck at Birgunj customs, the largest checkpoint in terms of the volume of vehicle import.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The vehicles are stopped at the Integrated Checkpoint (ICP) Customs at Birganj. Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board, which operates the ICP, said that they are facing pressure to manage the parking area of the vehicles and also to ensure safety of the parked vehicles.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the pressure to accommodate increasing number of vehicles, the board is planning to construct a parking lot with a capacity to park 300 more vehicles.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kamal Gyawali, chief of the board, believes that the pressure to manage the vehicles at the ICP will ease after the construction of a new parking lot. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The vehicles that have arrived here have not got customs clearance. The number of vehicles is increasing each day and it is becoming difficult to manage the ICP,” said Gyawali. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Preparations are underway to build a separate warehouse and parking lot at the ICP with support from the World Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under this plan, warehouse and parking will be prepared in an area of 40,000 square meters, the board said. For this, a team from the World Bank has already conducted an on-site study of the ICP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In order to reduce the pressure on the foreign exchange reserves, the government had imposed a ban on import of some luxury items including vehicles for personal use. As a result, the cars have been piling up at the customs point after banks stopped credit investment for purchase of vehicles upon instruction from the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even the vehicles that arrived at the customs point before the government imposed the restrictions have been held at the customs. As there is no demand for new vehicles in the market at present, the importers have not shown any interest in releasing the vehicles that arrived here before the ban was imposed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Importers have to pay heavy parking fees at ICP. To reduce such expenses, they rented land in the bordering Indian city of Raxaul to store the vehicles.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15719', 'image' => '20220912012041_20220815011457_1660393906.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 13:19:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15977', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Decade Announced for Development of Sustainable Tourism ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the incumbent government had introduced the concept of 'Tourism Decade 2023-2032' for development of sustainable tourism. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 12: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the incumbent government had introduced the concept of 'Tourism Decade 2023-2032' for development of sustainable tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at an interaction with the stakeholders on Sunday, Minister Shrestha said that this concept was visualized to revive the tourism industry of Nepal battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that tourism was one of the mainstays of national economy, Minister Shrestha pledged to facilitate the tourism entrepreneurs and also promised policy reforms for the development and promotion of the tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Tourism Secretary Suresh Adhikari shed light on the concept of the Tourism Decade and said that the concept was put in place to earn foreign currencies in the long run. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to attract as many as 3.5 million foreign tourists in Nepal by 2032, according to Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Nepal Tourism Board’s (NTB) CEO Dr Dhananjay Regmi shared that Nepal would reap a lot of benefits from tourism if there was proper coordination among the concerned bodies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former State Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Yankila Sherpa urged the government to accord high priority to coordination and collaboration with the private sector for implementing programmes related to tourism promotion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">HAAN President Shreejan Rana recommended the government to introduce action-plans to bring in as many as foreign tourists as possible in Nepal during the Tourism Decade. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15718', 'image' => '20220912114233_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 11:42:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15976', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IBN to Organise Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 12: With a focus on informing potential investors about investment opportunities for sustainable infrastructure in Nepal and to create a conducive environment for investment, the Investment Board Nepal is organising the Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum on September 14. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 12: With a focus on informing potential investors about investment opportunities for sustainable infrastructure in Nepal and to create a conducive environment for investment, the Investment Board Nepal is organising the Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Forum on September 14. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The key objective of the forum is to explore ways on how foreign investment could be made more reliable and systematic in the country while ensuring sustainability of the development process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a news conference on Sunday, Chief Executive Officer of the board Sushil Bhatta said the forum would discuss the ideas of making development and construction works sustainable while making it green, resilient and inclusive. He added that the forum would be a cornerstone for resource mobilisation to achieve the net-zero carbon emissions as committed by Nepal in the COP-26. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is scheduled to inaugurate the forum, informed the board's Spokesperson Amrit Lamsal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-12', 'modified' => '2022-09-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15717', 'image' => '20220912112957_20210823044910_MG_3290.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-12 11:29:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15975', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Madras Security Printers Blamed for Technical Issues in Printing Smart License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 11: Chennai-based Madras Security Printers, which was awarded the contract to facilitate the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) to issue smart driving license, has failed to deliver its services as per the agreement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 11: Chennai-based Madras Security Printers, which was awarded the contract to facilitate the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) to issue smart driving license, has failed to deliver its services as per the agreement. According to the department, they are still awaiting for the company to develop the software system to a full scale. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The company’s failure to deliver the service as per the agreement has caused delay in the printing and distribution of smart driving license cards, according to the department. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department claimed that it has already paid 90 percent of the contract amount equivalent to Rs 700 billion to the company, but it has failed to deliver the system as per the agreement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department’s computer engineer Suraj Prasad Aryal shared that the DoTM has already informed the Indian company about technical issues it is facing in the smart card software system. Though the company was urged to send a technical team here to fix the issues, it did not find it necessary to respond to the call. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A letter dispatched by the department to the company states that TMO /TMSO and modules are not functioning properly, there is a problem for the online payment of tax and insurance and it is tackling with a software bug and loopholes in the security system. Moreover, the security audit of electronic driving license is yet to be carried out. Due to these reasons, the Department's Online System (EDL and VRS) remains non-functional. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, work on 18 TMS has also not moved ahead as the company has not sent the skilled human resources required for technical assistance as per the agreement. The company has to provide the software project manager, senior and junior Web Java programmer, database specialist and quality assurance specialist, but it has not completed its obligation till now. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Not only this, the company has also not fully handed over the software and hardware necessary for online renewal of the driving license and vehicle registration. The DoTM has alleged that it is facing problems frequently due to this reason. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-11', 'modified' => '2022-09-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15716', 'image' => '20220911054844_Smart-driving-licence-specimen.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-11 17:47:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15974', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepali Exporters show Lack of Interest to Export Goods using Gautam Buddha Int’l Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 11: Cargo materials were exported for the first time using Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport on July 27. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">September 11: Cargo materials were exported for the first time using Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport on July 27. Himalex Traders of Kathmandu had exported Nepali products through Rising Star Cargo Pvt. Ltd using the newly-built airport. The consignment of handicraft items was sent to France through a transit in Kuwait by Jazeera Airways. Since then, none other goods have been exported through the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Export of goods from the airport has not increased due to lack of interest among the businessmen. Although the exporters are using the Tribhuvan International Airport to export Nepali goods abroad, hardly anyone is interested in Bhairahawa Airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Freight Forwarders Association’s President Manoj Adhikari says that the exporters have shown little interest in using Bhairahawa-based airport for export although it has all necessary infrastructure to export their products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We cannot expect businessmen from Kathmandu to use this airport to export goods. The private sector of this area should take initiative to export goods using this airport,” says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have to identify the local products and export them through this airport,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Rupandehi district is best knowngreen vegetables and fishery. Adhikari says that vegetables, medicinal herbs, coffee, noodles, and flour can be exported through this airport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He argues that the stakeholders need to identify the products that have good potential for export and focus on production of those goods. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“NFFA is ready to facilitate the identification of the goods that have high potential for export,” says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airport has a capacity to import/export up to 500 tons of goods per day for the time being. However, exporters of this area are also using Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan International Airport instead of this airport, says Adhikari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Bhishma Neupane, chairman of Siddhartha Industry and Commerce Association, says that the industrialists are confused what should they export from this airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Neupane argues that the industrialists and businessmen are in dilemma because the airport has just come into operation. The businessmen say that there are still many legal hurdles to export goods from this airport. They say that the airport lacks cold storage to export green vegetables and also customs point for export.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, chief of the Gautam Buddha International Airport Customs Office Tikaram Gaire says that the airport is fully prepared to handle export and import of goods. He says that there is no hurdle for foreign trade through this airport. The storage house in the airport will come into operation soon, says Gaire.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Only one airline company – Jazeera Airways – has been operating regular flights using this airport which came into operation on May 16 this year. The airline company has been conducting three flights a week between Bhairahawa and Kuwait.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airport has announced various concessions to attract more airline companies. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-09-11', 'modified' => '2022-09-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15715', 'image' => '20220911045302_GBIAAA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-09-11 16:52:16', '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
