PARTIES CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVE TO REGMI-LED GOVT. Kathmandu, 21 Feb.: Analternative arrangement for an election government is bing considered by major parties. This was disclosed Thursday by Debendra Paudel, political advisor of the prime minister, and UML leader Bhim Rawal. The move came after Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi declined the offer of parties sp far to lead an election government. nnnn MAJOR THAPA TOPS COURSE Kathmandu, 21 Feb.: Major Narayan Bahadur Thapa stood first on the Masters of Strategic Studies course conducted by Nepal Army Staff College Shibapuri. Ten Nepal Army officers, one each from Nepal Police and Armed Police Force and One officer from National Investigation Department participated . One officer each from Malaysia, Bangladesh, India Pakistan, Sri Lanka, USA and South Korea also attended the course. Two Chinese officers attended the course. nnnn MONEY FOR NAC TO PURCHASE AIRCRAFT Kathmandu, 21 Feb.: The Cabinet has agreed that a sum of US$ 3.7 million in the aircraft operation fund of the defunct Air Transport Support Centre (ATSC) should go to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), The Kathmandu Post writes.. A Cabinet meeting on Jan 25 had approved CAAN’s proposal to buy new aircraft for calibration purposes and to conduct inspections. The ATSC was formed under the erstwhile Department of Civil Aviation after the United Nations Development Project gifted it a Twin Otter aircraft and spares parts in 1992 to facilitate air transport services in Nepal. The Twin Otter crashed on Aug 21, 1998 in Myagdi district, and the department received around US$ 3.6 million as insurance compensation. The money remained frozen in various bank accounts after the government dissolved the ATSC on Dec 29, 1998, and subsequently the department on Dec 30, 1998 with the establishment of CAAN. Three years ago, CAAN initiated a process to get back the funds to buy aircraft to perform regulatory and technical tasks. “At present, we have been spending more than Rs 20 million annually to perform aircraft and airport inspections, search and rescue operations and other technical tasks,” said Tri Ratna Manandhar, director general of CAAN. “After we receive the Cabinet’s decision officially, we will take over the money and proceed with our aircraft purchase plan.” According to him, a committee formed for the procurement of aircraft has submitted its report to CAAN. “We will move ahead as per the recommendation of the report,” he added. Domestic passenger movement has increased from 1 million in 2001 to 1.58 million in 2011 and is projected to grow 22.54 percent to 1.94 million by 2015, according to a CAAN forecast. Similarly, domestic flight movement at TIA has increased from 63,159 in 2001 to 99,290 in 2010. Government officials said that if an aircraft is procured, it will help CAAN to regularly conduct inspections. However, it should not be misused to fly politicians and their aides, they added. nnnn NRB STEPS UP EFFORT TO CURB BANK FRAUD Kathmandu, 21 Feb.: With banks and financial institutions (BFI) grappling with operations risks of late, Nepal Rastra Bank has directed them to arrange extra capital as a precautionary measure, The Kathmandu Post writes. Lately, fraud in the H&B Development Bank, Nabil Bank, Himalayan Bank and General Finance have become the highlights of operation risks in BFIs. As per the central bank directive, banks vulnerable to operational risks will be charged 5 percent of their gross income of the previous year as capital charge. Earlier, such charge was 2 percent only. However, B and C class financial institutions are compulsorily charged five percent of their immediate past fiscal year’s gross income as a caution against operational risks. An NRB official said the provision has been implemented only for banks found vulnerable to the risks. “Development banks and finance companies, however, must arrange the capital, irrespective of their vulnerability,” said the NRB official. “Such discriminatory measure was taken as B and C class financial institutions have been found more vulnerable.” Bankers have expressed dissatisfaction over the circular. Sashin Joshi, chief executive officer of NIC Bank, said it was knee-jerk reaction on the part of the central bank. “The NRB generalised incidents that happened in a few BFIs,” he said. Himalayan Bank CEO Ashoke Rana said that as banks are already directed to arrange additional one percent buffer capital in the capital adequacy ratio, extra capital charge in the name of addressing operational risks was not needed. Meanwhile, the NRB has barred government employees, either working in the civil service, corporations or schools, from representing a board of any BFI as shareholders except in cases where they are representatives of the government agency. “This, however, doest not bar board directors from enjoying the post until their tenure expires,” the NRB regulation says. NRB spokesperson Bhaskarmani Gnawali said that the move was taken to discourage conflict of interests among board members. The NRB has also defined small and medium scale enterprises (SME) as one that has maximum paid up capital of Rs 5 million, authorised capital of Rs 50 million, is involved in manufacturing and service industries and that has been involved in tax regime voluntarily. Nnnn WORK ON UPPER MARSYANGDI RESUMES Kathmandu, 21 Feb.: Construction works of the 50 MW Upper Marsyangdi Hydropower Project has been resumed from Wednesday after a multi-stakeholder meeting held on Wednesday morning reached to an agreement, The Rising Nepal reports from Lamjung.. Local people of the project area had obstructed the construction works for last three days demanding employment opportunities in the project. A multi-stakeholder meeting held on Wednesday morning has agreed to organize a workshop within mid-March in order to resolve various problems regarding the hydropower project. The meeting held in chairmanship of Bhesh Bahadur Poudel, president of Lamjung Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also formed a committee in coordination of Poudel for organizing the workshop. Representatives from Transportation Entrepreneur Association, Contractor Association, Electricity Consumers Association and representative of five political parties acting in the district are accompanying Poudel in the committee. The meeting was also attended by chief district officer, Baburam Bhandari, representative from five political parties and entrepreneurs involved in transportation and construction sectors. The committee has given mandate to present a paper on ‘Access and Role of Local People on Upper Marsangdi Hydropower Project’ at the proposed workshop. Chief Secretary of the government, Lilamani Poudel and water resource expert Suryanath Upadhaya are scheduled to participate at the workshop. Sources said that the workshop was organised as per the interest of chief secretary Poudelto have a mass discussion with Lamjungeli people about the hydropower projects being constructed in the district and construction of extension line to supply the produced power. This was the second time that the locals obstructed the construction works of the hydropower project. The protesters have demanded skill development training to local residents, provide due priority to locals for employment and other opportunities, fix minimum salary scale for project workers, inform the public about the progress of the project, disseminate the report of the environmental impact assessment, support local youth clubs, mother groups, drinking water, road and schools. Located at Bhulbhule of Lamjung district, the projected is expected to come into operation in2017. nnnn