February 20: The government has formed a committee under the coordination of former Secretary Shankar Prasad Adhikari to study the prospects of construction and operation of international airports on public-private partnership model.  The committee has been asked to provide suggestions in this regard.  

Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, shared this during a press conference held on Tuesday to make public the decisions taken by the Council of Ministers.

Meanwhile, Minister Sharma said that the government has formed a study committee under the coordination of former Vice Chairman of NPC, Deependra Bahadur Chhetri, for the structural and managerial reform of Nepal Airlines Corporation.    

Similarly, the cabinet meeting has agreed to royalty sharing among three-tiers of government as recommended by the National Natural Resources and Financial Commission.    

The government is planning to accept the proposal that allows people carrying the official passports of Nepal and Sri Lanka to travel between the two countries without requiring visa.

According to Minister Sharma, the government will delegate the authority for signing an agreement in this regard to the concerned government body. Also, the Foreign Ministry would be given authority to sign a memorandum of understanding between Nepal and Bangladesh on maintaining institutional relations on foreign affairs.    

The government also approved the acquisition of land for the construction of a tower of 220-KV transmission line under the Tamakoshi-V hydro power project at Bigu rural municipalty-4, Dolakha.    In addition to that, the cabinet meeting also approved acquisition of land and forest areas for various hydro power project including Upper Arun (Sankhuwasabha), Upper Rahughat (Myagdi), Super Kabeli Khola-A, Super Kabeli Kholi 'cascade', and Kabeli-III (Taplejung), Super Ambukhola (Dhading), and Sona Khola (Taplejung).    

The cabinet meeting also decided to accept the grants worth Rs 11.70 billion from the UK for Green Growth Nepal and Nepal in Business (NIB) programmes.    

A draft agreement on bilateral cooperation on intellectual property between the US Trademark Office, and Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has been approved by the Council of Ministers.

Similarly, the government has approved the proposals for exploration of petroleum products at ten different spots across the country in the Terai region.

The Council of Ministers also approved the draft of trade and investment agreement between Nepal and Australia, while a high level committee has been formed under the coordination of former secretary Madhu Sudan Adhikari on enforcement of Supreme Court orders relating to the compensation of land owned by the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve.    

The government has also approved the directive on poor household identification and identity card distribution, 2080.    

The cabinet meeting also decided to approve the Electronic Purchase System Operation (first amendment) Directive, 2080, while the bill designed to amend the Secured Transaction Act, 2063 will be tabled in the parliament. -- RSS