NEPAL BEATS SRI LANKA IN JAPAN-SAARC U-14 FOOTBALL EXCHANGE PROGRAMME Kathmandu, 12 Oct.: Nepal defeated Sri Lanka 6-0 Thursday in the Japan- SAARC Football Exchange U-14 Exchange tournament in Shizuoka, Japan. The win is the fourth straight victory for Nepal. .nnnn MEGHRAJ KC JOINS HIMALAYAN SHERPA Kathmandu, 12 Oct. Assistant coach of national team Meghraj KC has joined Yeti Airlines Himalayan Sherpa ascoachfor remaining period of the season. KC succeeds coach Arjum Lamab, the A division club said. nnnn CHINESE FIRM TO BUILD 30-MW SOLAR PLANT Kathmandu, 12 Oct : Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese solar energy firm Hunan Yueer Solar Energy Technology Co. Ltd. for installing a 30-Megawatt solar station in the country. It would be the largest ever solar energy project in Nepal, Rameshwor Prasad Bhusal writes in Repblica.. The MoU stated that that a solar company would be established in Nepal and NEA will buy and sell electricity produced from the solar station. The site of the installation is yet to be decided. NEA will be responsible for providing space for installing the solar panels whereas the total investment will come from the Chinese firm. “Actual cost of production and other details are yet to be finalized but for now we have agreed to produce 30 MW of electricity from solar power; this would be a major demonstration project for the country,” said Sher Singh Bhat, director at NEA´s Department of Power Trade. “It has also been agreed that the feasibility study is to be completed within four months. If found feasible, the installation could be done within two years and it will be connected directly to the national grid.” The Chinese company will hold 92 percent share of the solar company to be established within the next six months. NEA will have an 8 percent share. However, the company will be responsible for installing the system and will bear the cost of the installation in full. The document says the installation work will be completed within two years from the date of the construction contract, which will be entered into after the feasibility study and the establishment of the company in Nepal. A joint team will be formed immediately for the preparatory work and it will negotiate various technical issues as well as identify the installation site. The company will sell the electricity to NEA for 35 years and then hand over the system to the government. “It is technically feasible to generate that amount of power but the electricity will be more expensive than hydropower,” said Mukesh Ghimire, solar energy expert at the Alternative Energy Promotion Center under the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology. According to Ghimire, if all the electricity generated to date across the country by small solar panels at individual homes is added up, it would amount to about 13 MW. So, the installation of such a big project would be a milestone for solar energy development in the country. A few weeks ago, NEA had signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the solar energy project at Sundarighat that generates 650 KW, a first such agreement for solar power. The PPA rate was Rs 5.1 per unit. Experts say that Nepal has a potential of about 21,000 MW of electricity from solar power at present. “It depends on how we install but there is a huge potential for solar energy and it could be harnessed if big projects are also launched and connected to the national grid, " added Ghimire. Nnnn GOVT. FORWARDS TO BANGLADESH LIST FOR ZERO TARIFF FACILITY REPUBLICA KATHMANDU, Oct 12: Nepal has forwarded to Bangladesh a list of 100 agricultural products seeking a zero tariff facility on exports and an additional list of items that it wishes its second largest South Asian trading partner to consider for preferential trading. The duty-free list includes items like lentils, various seasonal and off season vegetables, citrus fruits like orange and lemon, among others. Basically the list includes items which Nepal truly can export in significant volumes and are in high demand in Bangladesh, said a senior official at Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS). The MoCS forwarded the list as Bangladesh, during a bilateral talks held on July 30, had agreed to provide duty-free entry facility to 100 agro-products and promote business through preferential trading arrangement. A final decision on the list will be taken after further talks between the two countries. "We forwarded a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU), including the list to Bangladesh recently. Hopefully, we will receive the good news soon," said Lal Mani Joshi, secretary at the MoCS. The MoCS officials said that the two sides would finalize the MoU by holding the talks at the joint secretary level soon. "The meeting will be held in Dhaka, but its date has not been fixed yet," said a source. Apart from duty free facility, Bangladesh has also agreed to facilitate Nepal´s bilateral and overseas trade by operating transit carriage of cargoes through Chittagong and Mongla Port of Bangladesh by December this year. The two sides also hope to finalize their operations modality when their joint secretaries meet in Dhaka. The meeting would also attempt to finalize the groundwork for setting up a uniform quality benchmark, harmonizing quarantine system and health related criteria for agri- and other product. "Establishing a uniform quality rule and harmonization of quarantine are crucial if we are to ensure smooth trading of those goods," said the source. Bangladesh is the second largest trading partner of Nepal in South Asia. According to Trade and Export Promotion Center, the volume of Nepal-Bangladesh trade stood at Rs 4.08 billion in 2011/12. During the review year, Nepal had imported goods worth Rs 1.5 billion from Bangladesh and exported goods worth Rs 2.58 billion. Nnnn ________________________________________