Evolve regional strategy on drinking water supply, sanitation: World Bank

As unclean water and sanitation is the world´s second biggest killer of children, the World Bank official on Wednesday urged countries in South Asia to evolve out a common strategy to tackle this problem in the region.
"Policy priority, insufficient funding, rapid urbanization and lack of public awareness have mainly impeded attainment of long-term sustainability of water supply and sanitation in South Asia," said Tahseen Sayed, World Bank country manager for Nepal.
"Weak institutional capacities are other problems for us in the region to attain our goal of reducing number of people who do not have access to drinking water and sanitation," she stated
Sayed was speaking at the South Asian regional conference on drinking water and sanitation, which kicked off in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
The three-day conference is being attended by more than 100 experts and officials from the different countries of the region. Through the conference, they hope to identify a common strategy to mitigate challenges seen in access to drinking water and sanitation in rural areas and also identify the workable institutional models for the region.
According to the World Bank, more than 500 million people do not have access to sanitation and 250 million people to drinking water in South Asia, which is home to 1.6 billion people.
"Despite its economic success, South Asia, now, represents the largest concentration of the world´s poor, as well as those lacking access to safe water and sanitation," said its statement.
According to the Bank, the conference will discuss on identifying sustainable ways of water supply, increasing sanitation access and reducing challenges -- challenges of declining water quality and quantity. "It will also focus on developing partnership between public and private sector to advance rural water and sanitation," Sayed said.
Janak Raj Shah, member of the National Planning Commission (NPC) said that the inadequate coordination among major players in the field of water supply and sanitation, weak implementation of the program and lack of proper approach to handle the projects were major hurdles of water supply and sanitation in Nepal. “
"We are lagging behind to achieve our targets under millennium development goals on sanitation and water supply," Shah said. The government has targeted to increase access to water supply and sanitation to 53 percent of the total population by 2015.

Govt requests India to construct bridges as well

The government has requested India to support the construction of bridges along 900-km link roads that will be developed in later phases of the 1500-km Tarai Roads Project.
Under the bilateral assistance agreement, the government had agreed to construct the bridges itself while India would construct the 1500 km road.
"We are constructing bridges on the first 600-km stretch of the Tarai road ourselves," said Hariom Srivastav, joint secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management.
However, the ministry recently approached the Indian government to develop bridges as well on remaining 900-km stretch that will be developed in the second and the third phases.
Srivastava said such a request was made mainly to complete the project on time. "We have yet to carry out a survey to ascertain the number of bridges need to be constructed along the 900 km stretch. Survey will take time," he stated.
Besides, the ministry has assessed that the cost of constructing the bridges [on the 900 km section] will be very high and it will be difficult for the government to arrange funds from its own sources.
Tarai Road Project is the biggest project being developed under Indian assistance in recent years. The agreement was signed between the two countries in 2006. India has already allocated Rs 10 billion for the first phase construction work.
"Sadly, even after six years of the agreement, no substantial progress has been made in the project," Srivastav said.
As per the assistance agreement, Nepal needs to acquire land for the development and upgradation of link roads. However, officials said they are facing difficulties in land acquisition. “
"The pace of implementation of the first phase itself has remained slow because we have faced problems in land acquisition and in having environmental impact assessment report approved from the authorities concerned," Srivastava said.
Senior Nepali and Indian officials are also holding a bilateral meeting, reviewing the status and discuss future course of action of the project, on Wednesday. Akhilesh Mishra, joint secretary at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs is leading the Indian delegation.
The Nepali side is hopeful that the Indian side will respond positively to their request for bridges construction.

Sri Lankan envoy pushes for increased trade and connectivity with Nepal

Entrepreneurs, who have extended relationship with Sri-Lanka in trade and economic front, met officials from Embassy of Sri-Lanka in Nepal on Tuesday in a bid to discuss and identify possible ways of increasing volume of trade and connecting the two countries through direct flights.
According to a press release issued by Nepal-Sri Lanka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (NSCCI), A team led by Bhakta Bahadur Malla, president of NSCCI met D.V. Abeywickrama, Charge D´ Affairs and Dison J Perera, Economic counselor from the embassy on Tuesday.
“Two sides agreed to improve the mechanism of information sharing between the two countries,” said the release. “Abeywickrama said that he would work on developing the bridge between business communities from the two countries in every possible way.”
Similarly, Abeywickrama also said that the embassy was interested to connect the two countries through direct flights. “In order to increase the movement of people between the two countries, we have to connect the two countries through a direct flight,” the release quoted Abeywickrama as saying. In the meeting business leaders even requested officials from embassy to encourage Sri Lankan investors to come in Nepal.
Nepal and Sri Lanka being in the same South Asia region, share a minimal level of bilateral trade. According to statistics compiled at Trade and Export promotion Centre (TEPC), Nepal and Sri Lanka had Rs 90 million worth of trade in which Nepal has around Rs 58 million trade defict with Sri Lanka in 2011.

CNI to open chapters in Pokhara, Jhapa, Nepalgunj

Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) -- an umbrella body of domestic industries -- has decided to expedite its expansion drive by opening CNI chapters all over the country.
A special general meeting of CNI held on Tuesday endorsed a proposal to open new chapters in different places of the country in order to improve and expand the network of the organization. Going by the decision, CNI announced that it was starting its expansion drive by opening chapters in places like Jhapa, Pokhara, Nepalgunj and Kanchanpur.
“The improved network will be a step toward attaining optimum utilization of resources, giving new impetus to economic activities and ultimately generating more jobs opportunities in the market,” thh CNI said, issuing a press release after the special general meeting.
The enhanced and improved network of the CNI, according to the release, will focus on the promotion of investment, market by holding industrial exhibitions, and manpower development by providing educational and vocational trainings to the local people.
"We will open new chapters in the places that hold strong industrial potential," the release quoted Binod Chaudhary, president of the CNI, as saying in the meeting. "Our network will be meaningful in utilizing the human resources, technology and eventually maintaining the quality of industrial output."
Officials of the CNI that endorsed the proposal also made a strong commitment to make CNI chapters more active to promote industrial development in the country. "The CNI and its chapter offices have to work more efficiently in the upcoming days in order to utilize the potential we have," Narendra Kumar Basnyat, senior vice president of CNI, said.
During the meeting, industrialists from different parts of the country urged the CNI executive body to work for enhancing the capacity of chapter offices. They also urged the CNI leadership to work aggressively for industrial infrastructure development in the country.

Sri Lankan envoy pushes for increased trade and connectivity with Nepal

Entrepreneurs, who have extended relationship with Sri-Lanka in trade and economic front, met officials from Embassy of Sri-Lanka in Nepal on Tuesday in a bid to discuss and identify possible ways of increasing volume of trade and connecting the two countries through direct flights.
According to a press release issued by Nepal-Sri Lanka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (NSCCI), A team led by Bhakta Bahadur Malla, president of NSCCI met D.V. Abeywickrama, Charge D´ Affairs and Dison J Perera, Economic counselor from the embassy on Tuesday.
“Two sides agreed to improve the mechanism of information sharing between the two countries,” said the release. “Abeywickrama said that he would work on developing the bridge between business communities from the two countries in every possible way.”
Similarly, Abeywickrama also said that the embassy was interested to connect the two countries through direct flights. “In order to increase the movement of people between the two countries, we have to connect the two countries through a direct flight,” the release quoted Abeywickrama as saying. In the meeting business leaders even requested officials from embassy to encourage Sri Lankan investors to come in Nepal.
Nepal and Sri Lanka being in the same South Asia region, share a minimal level of bilateral trade. According to statistics compiled at Trade and Export promotion Centre (TEPC), Nepal and Sri Lanka had Rs 90 million worth of trade in which Nepal has around Rs 58 million trade defict with Sri Lanka in 2011.

Govt's laxity hinders Tarai road project

The Tarai Road Project, which aims to develop 19 feeder roads linking headquarters of around a dozen districts to southern part of Tarai, is not gaining momentum in the lack of proper coordination among line agencies to facilitate India that is supporting the project.
Though it has already been six years that Nepal and India signed formal agreement to implement the project, the project is moving at a slow pace due to the government´s failure to acquire required land.
“We failed to acquire land for the project on time,” Hariom Srivastav, joint secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management (MoPPWTM), said.
The Indian government had agreed in principle to develop and upgrade the link roads in Tarai region in 2004. It had signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement the project in June, 2006.
As per the MoU, Nepal has to arrange land required for the project. It also has to make bridges on the proposed roads. India has agreed to extend financial and technical support for construction of roads.
In the first phase, the project aims to construct and upgrade around 600 roads. It envisages constructing a total of 1,500 km link roads under three phases. A total of 19 feeder roads, including Janakpur-Bhittamod, Lamahi-Koilabas, Nawalpur-Malangwa and Janakpur-Jatahi, are to be developed and upgraded in the first phase.
“Despite our slow work progress, the Indian government has already awarded tenders to develop the link roads in different Tarai,” Srivastav said.
Meanwhile, a bi-lateral meeting of Project Steering Committee (PSC) has been scheduled for Wednesday to review the project status and identify reasons behind the delay in project implementation.
“Basically, there are problems in our part. However, we will discuss all the issues related to the project,” Srivastav, who is also leading the Nepali side in the joint-secretary level meeting, said.
Akhilesh Mishra, joint secretary at India´s Ministry of External Affairs (MoEA), is leading the Indian delegation in the meeting.

CACCI conference concludes with new investment commitments

The three-day regional conference of Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) concluded here on Friday with investors announcing investment commitments in a number of sectors such as hydroelectricity, agricultural and food processing.
“I am investing US$ 5 million in Nepal´s hydropower sector,” announced Ambassador Benedict V Yujuico, a Pilipino investor and president of CACCI. His investment, according to Yujuico, would come in Upper Mai Hydroelectric Project (9.98 MW), which is being developed by High Himalaya Hydro Company.
Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, former president of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), who is also involved in High Himalaya Hydro, said the two sides are yet to sign a formal deal. “But expect that to happen soon,” he told Republica.
Similarly, investors from Taiwan and South Korea also announced that they would make investment in agricultural and tourism sector, respectively.
Top businessmen of the region, who gathered in Kathmandu for the 26th conference of CACCI, admitted there were structural problems in Nepal´s hydropower sector.
“But still we want to make the investment and become part of country´s development,” said Yujuico, who has investment in countries like the USA, Singapore and the Philippines. Yujuico even appealed all the investors attending the conference to invest in Nepal.
FNCCI officials said numerous Nepali entrepreneurs have received strong commitments from investors from South Korea and Taiwan for new investments.
“We had appealed to the business leaders from Taiwan to invest in food processing and packaging industry,” said FNCCI President Suraj Vaidya. “Their responses have been positive.”
On the day, FNCCI also signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese International Economic Cooperation, Taiwan and Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (ICCIA) aiming to lure more investment from the respective countries. “These MoUs will lead us to more cooperation and communication and ultimately new investment,” Vaidya stated.
During the sideline meetings with the FNCCI, the investors from the region expressed concerns over Nepal´s legal framework on protecting foreign direct investment (FDI).
Investors from Taiwan, Russia and Turkey had mainly raised those concerns, but FNCCI officials informed them that the government was reframing the policies and laws, making them more investor friendly.
Later, addressing the closing ceremony, Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun too promised protection of foreign investment. “We have various sectors such as hydro, tourism and agricultural, among others, waiting for massive investment. We welcome you to be a development partner of this Himalayan country.”
The last day of the conference had revolved around specific sectors such as hydro, construction, alternative energy, small and medium enterprises, tourism, health and education, among others.
“There are security risks in the project sites in Nepal. Volatile political situation is always a threat for us to work here,” Dilip Singh, general manager of Himal Hydropower Company, said in a panel discussion.
Furthermore, a delegation of CACCI led by Yujuico met with President Dr Ram Baran Yadav and Prime Minister Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai on the day.
“President Yadav and PM Bhattarai both appealed the business leaders to come in Nepal with investment,” FNCCI said in its press statement. “The country is on the way to have a new constitution and I assure that your investment will be safe in Nepal,” Bhattarai told the CACCI delegates, according to the statement.
Around 300 business leaders from 21 countries across the region participated in the conference.