Kathmandu, June 3

The lengthy time taken in the land acquisition process for the new industrial areas in each province could hit investors’ sentiment as Nepal has already received investment commitment in those areas. The government had started the process of acquiring land in the name of Industrial District Management Ltd (IDML) in seven provinces about two years back. However, land acquisition process has not gathered pace despite the instruction to hasten the process from the prime minister.

As per its plan to develop industrial areas in each province, the government has started acquiring land in Damak and Gauradaha of Jhapa for the industrial areas in Province 1. So far, only 1,319bighas of land has been acquired out of the proposed 2,100 bighas.

The IDML has established its liaison office in Damak to expedite the land acquisition process, however, progress has been very slow, according Nanda Kishor Basnet, chairman and general manager of IDML. “We have to take consent from the Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs at each step of the land acquisition process and this has been causing delays.”

Chinese investors have been expressing interest to develop industrial areas to set up industries here due to the geographical proximity with India, Bangladesh and Bhutan. However, IDML needs to acquire land as early as possible to invite the Chinese developers.

The industrial areas will be developed as per the BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) model. Under the BOOT model the project will be handed over to the government after 30 years. The detailed project report (DPR) will be developed after the land acquisition.

The IDML has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Phingan Trust of Shenzhen, China, which will provide financing to the Chinese investors to invest in the industrial parks as per the government of China’s policy to promote the Belt and Road Initiative also through the participation of the private sector, as per Bhoj Raj Binadi, spokesperson for IDML. “The Lhasa Industrial Development Zone will provide technical expertise as a counterpart developer as per the MoU.”

Likewise, land acquisition for the industrial areas in other provinces has not gathered momentum. The DPR of three industrial areas in two provinces is underway, namely, Mayurdhap (200bighas) in Makawanpur of Province 3 and Motipur (813bighas) of Rupandehi and Naubasta (338bighas) of Bankeof Province 5. After the completion of DPR, the IDML will seek the developer for the industrial areas through competitive bidding.

The IDML has been carrying out feasibility study of industrial areas in other provinces as well. It has identified 3,000bighas of land in Murtiha of Sarlahi district in Province 2 and 300bighas in Chyalingtar, Gorkha of Province 4. Similarly, feasibility study is underway to develop industrial areas on 1,148bighas of land in Laxmipur, Dang of Province 5; 1,000bighas in Surkhet of Province 6 and 900bighas in Daiji of Kanchanpur district of Province 7.
Currently, there are 11 industrial estates and one Special Economic Zone in operation in the country.

Kathmandu, June 3

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has said that it is ready to help the Nepali tourism sector through knowledge transfer. “PATA is an organisation with an enormous global network and what we seek to do is provide help to Nepal to access the benefits of this global tourism network,” Chris Bottrill, chairman of PATA told The Himalayan Times.

“One of the core assets that we have is our knowledge about global tourism and how it operates. So, we can help Nepal expand its tourism market but we have not received enough requests for help from Nepal,” informed Bottrill. “I would urge Nepal to seek more input from us.”

Bottrill further said that it is not a daunting task for Nepal to attract high-end tourists who can spend more money but the country needs to first build the necessary infrastructure. “We all know that Nepal has really fine people, quality resources and also an incredible culture,” he stated. “But what is important is that most of the people will pay only if they are able to get a quality tourism experience, so PATA encourages the tourism fraternity in Nepal to make an action plan based on that and start working towards achieving it.”

“Nepal has immense potential in the tourism sector with an abundance of natural resources but the country has not been able to develop the infrastructure required to reap the benefits of the resources,” Bottrill informed.

He also said that there are many well-wishers around the world who would want to see Nepal realise its tourism potential and PATA would be ready to extend assistance for it. Bottrill also suggested the government to expand the number of tourist destinations and mentioned that if Nepal was able to provide quality tourism experience then it would be able to fulfil its target of drawing two million tourists annually by 2020.

Bottrill spoke to THT on the sidelines of the second edition of the Himalayan Travel Mart (HTM), which concluded in Kathmandu today. The three-day event saw participation of 59 buyers from 26 countries, and 52 sellers from seven different countries including Nepal, India, Bhutan, South Korea, Indonesia, Turkey and UAE.

The event also included the International Travel Bloggers and Media Conference (ITBMC) where bloggers from across the world discussed on various burning issues in the global tourism industry.

Kathmandu, June 3

The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index plunged by 2.58 per cent or 33.71 points today — the first trading day of the week — to close at 1,273.95 points.

Likewise, the sensitive index, which measures the performance of class ‘A’ stocks, went down by 2.58 per cent or 7.09 points to 268.19 points. The float index that measures the performance of shares actually traded also shrunk by 2.58 per cent or 2.43 points to rest at 91.84 points for the day.

Similarly, among the 10 subgroups at Nepse, only the manufacturing sub-index witnessed a gain while eight subgroups landed in the red zone. Trading subgroup did not witness any transaction today.

The manufacturing subgroup increased by 1.55 per cent or 35.88 points to close the day at 2,346.86 points.

On the other hand, insurance sub-index went down by 4.25 per cent or 290.83 points to 6,548.20 points. It was followed by hotels subgroups, which also declined by 3.13 per cent or 61.44 points to rest at 1,904.43 points.

The microfinance sub-index went down by 3.13 per cent or 55.07 points to 1,702 points. Similarly, others subgroup also took a dive by 2.38 per cent or 17.77 points to 728.14 points and the banking subgroup slumped by 2.53 per cent or 26.04 points to land at 1,080.19 points.

Meanwhile, hydropower sub-index shrunk by 2.06 per cent or 33.09 points to rest at 1,576.55 points. Likewise, development banks also went down by 2.04 per cent or 30.83 points to 1,483.01 points and the finance subgroup declined by 1.3 per cent or 8.39 points to land at 637.95 points.

The biggest gainer of the day was Unilever Nepal whose share price went up by 4.04 per cent to Rs 26,500 and Mega Bank Nepal was the biggest loser as its share price descended by 9.7 per cent to Rs 186.