SUSHIL KOIRLA EXTENDS CHHATH GREETINGS Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala has extended best wishes to all the Nepali sisters and brothers, in the nation and abroad, on the occasion of the Chhath festival, RSS reports. It is always necessary to maintain the relations marked by goodwill and brotherhood subsisting since centuries between the people of various ethnic, religious, castes and communities in Nepal, a country rich in social and cultural diversity, Koirala said in a message of best wishes. He also expressed the belief that the Chhath Festical -2012 will inspire us all towards that direction. nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayankaji Shrestha on Sunday reaffirmed that Nepal will not allow Tibetan refugees to conduct political activities in the country. “In a meeting with visiting US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, Maria Otero , Shrestha said the government had provided asylum to refuges on humanitarian grounds and hence they are not supposed to conduct political activities in Nepali territory. “ (Report in The Kathmandu Post, 19 Nov.) “The incident cannot be taken as an outcome of public frustration against leaders merely because a short-tempered person resorted to slapping Dahal.” Deuba said he has been frequently saying that it is better to go for polls only after the promulgation.” (Sher Bahadur Deuba, The Himalayan Times, 19 Nov.)” TRAINING OF FORMER MAOIST COMBATANTS MAY BE DELAYED Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: Preparations being made by the Nepal Army to begin training for former PLA combatants from next week is likely to be affected by the delay in deciding on a new structure in the Army for the former fighters and determination of their ranks, The Kathmandu Post reports. The prime minister-led Special Committee was supposed to resolve the outstanding issues before Wednesday, the date on which 1,460 former combatants, including 71 officer cadets, were scheduled to report to the Nepal Army barracks for training. However, the tenure of the Special Committee expired on November 15 without the issues being settled. Prime Minister’s Political Advisor Devendra Poudel said the integration process will begin on schedule and that the Cabinet will address the outstanding issues. “The tenure of the Special Committee has already expired. We are preparing to resolve the remaining issues in the Cabinet to take ahead the integration process.” Nepali Congress representative of the Special Committee Minendra Rijal blamed the government for the current state of indecision. “We still hope that the prime minister will call a meeting of the Special Committee so that the process can be executed within the time frame.” The Army has said it is scheduled to start briefing the new recruits on November 21 and begin training from November 25. “There is no obstacle in starting the basic training for lower ranks and officer cadets,” said Army Spokesperson Gen Suresh Sharma. Coordinator of the Special Committee Secretariat Balananda Sharma said political parties have to hammer out a new agreement if they want to revise their decision to form a general directorate for the ex-fighters. Major political parties had last year planned to form a general directorate by agreeing that they would integrate a maximum of 6,500 combatants in the Army. With a sharp fall in the number of combatants aspiring for integration, there are voices within the Army and outside that a brigade-level structure would now be sufficient to accommodate the former combatants. Nepali Congress and CPN-UML leaders have also been stressing on the need to revise the decision to form a general directorate. Meanwhile, the Special Committee Secretariat said 169 of the 15,585 former fighters opting for voluntary retirement did not show up to collect the second installment of their pay cheques. nnnn FURTHER DELAY IN MELAMCHI Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: Despite government’s vow to expedite the process to appoint a new contractor to construct the tunnel for the Melamchi Drinking Water Project (MDWP), it has missed the deadline to call a fresh invitation for bids, Ashok Thapa writes in The Kathmandu Post.. The Melamchi Water Supply Development Board (MWSDB), the project’s implementing agency, had planned to call tender on Nov 9 with its closing date would be Jan 7, 2013. According to board officials, ever since the termination of contract with previous contractor China Railway 15 Bureau Group, there has been difference of opinion between the government and the project’s major donor, Asian Development Bank (ADB) over ways to take forward the project. The latest difference arose over the modality of advance payment to the contractor. “We want to pay the contractor advance amount based on the size of its demands for starting work,” said an MWSDB official. “But, the ADB wants the advance payment made in bulk on fixed installments.” The board, which had allotted 15 percent of contract amount in advance to the previous contractor, decided to advance 20 percent of the contract amount to a bid-winning contractor. “However, the ADB has asked us to reconsider on the modality and the advance payment to the new contractor, leading to the delay in the tender process,” said a high-level MWSDB official. He also revealed that the ADB is apprehensive towards such model, blaming it for hassles and delay in the project work. The board, however, is firm on its belief that the new modality would prevent the contractor from any misuse of the project funds. Ghanashyam Bhattarai, deputy director general of the MWSDB, said that the board would submit documents about the modality and amount of the advance payment to the ADB with in a week. “We will endorse it through a board meeting and submit it to the ADB. But we will not change the structure and the limit on the advance amount,” he added. “Once this issue is settled, it will probably take a week to call a fresh tender.” The latest difference cropped up after the two sides resolved an issue over the tunnel’s design. Earlier, the board and the ADB were at odds as to whether to retain the old design or change it—the main cause for the delay in the tender process. “The ADB had asked us to expand the size of tunnel before calling for tenders, which we rejected,” said Bhattarai. According to him, the ADB held the limited size of the tunnel as stumbling block for the contractor to use modern equipment, thus causing delay in construction works. The size of the MDWP tunnel at present is 12.7 metre. However, the board was against expanding the size of the tunnel for fear of a possible rise in the project cost. It had instead proposed that it could entertain proposals from interested bidders if they wanted to review the size of the tunnel that could be expanded at a limited additional cost. The matter was finally resolved after the MWSDB and the ADB reached an agreement that the size of the tunnel will not be less than 12.7 metres, while leaving the option open to expand it up to 16 metres if any bidders come up with a technically and financially feasible proposal. Nnnn OBAMA IN MYANMAR Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: Barack Obama arrived in Myanmar on Monday, the first visit by a serving U.S. president to the Southeast Asian country, which is opening up after almost half a century of military rule, Reuters reports from Yangon.. His plane landed at the airport in the former capital, Yangon, where he was due to meet President Thein Sein, who has led the political and economic reforms since taking office in March 2011, and Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the fight for democracy under the former junta. Obama will spend barely six hours in the country, also known as Burma, before flying to Cambodia for summit meetings with the leaders of other Southeast Asian states and partner countries. nnnn