DEADLINE EXTENSION

EC CONSIDERING EXTENDING DEADLINE SECOND TIME FOR VOTER REGISTRATION

Kathmandu, 5 Aug.: A meeting was held between Chairman of the Interim Election Council, Khil Raj Regmi, and office-bearers of the Election Commission on the preparations for upcoming elections to the Constituent Assembly (CA) this morning.

During the meeting held at the official residence of the Prime Minister at Baluwatar, the office-bearers of the EC familiarized Chairman Regmi about the progress made on preparations of the second CA election.

A team of commissioners including Chief Election Commissioner, Nilkantha Upreti, informed that the preparations for CA election has reached its final phase and also urged the government to create more congenial political environment for participation of most of the political parties.

Discussion was also held on the issue of extending time for the voters' list registration in the context when the High-Level Political Committee (HLPC) has urged to extend time for voters' list registration without affecting the election schedule, it is learnt.

On the occasion, Chairman Regmi, expressed commitment to providing all types of support without hampering the election declared for November 19 as it

was the only goal of the government, Election Commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung told media persons after the meeting.

Gurung said that the issue of extending time for voters' list registration

would only be finalized after holding discussion on its legal and practical

impact although the issue of extending time for voters' list registration was raised in the meeting.

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CPACITY OF DUDH KOSHI CAN BE INCREASED

Kathmandu, 5 Aug.: The existing capacity of the 210MW storage-type

Dudh Koshi Hydropower Project could be increased to 840MW if the dam height was slightly increased to 220m from its current height of 160m, The Rising Nepal reports.

According to a preliminary study report of the project, the capacity of the project could go much higher without disturbing the flow of water level in the Dudh Koshi River.

Talking to The Rising Nepal, Rameshwar Yadav, Managing Director of the NEA, said that the project's capacity could be increased in line with the height of the dam without disturbing the flow of water level in the river in the downstream.

"The project will generate 210MW/365MW if the dam height remains 160m tall. However, its generation will go up significantly with a slight increase in the dam height, such as 180m could increase the capacity to 485MW, 200m to 640MW, and 220m to 840MW," he informed citing the preliminary report of the project.

He said that the Ministry of Energy has asked the NEA to carry out the project without disturbing the Kamala Diversion.

Though the detailed project report of the hydropower is yet to be finished, Yadav said that the project could be developed with the domestic capital.

The NEA has just completed the preliminary report of the project and is waiting for time to present at the Ministry.

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THREEFOLD INCREASE IN FDI

Kathmandu, 5 Aug.: The country managed to receive nearly three fold more foreign direct investment (FDI) in the fiscal year 2012/13 than in 2011/2012m CK Khanal writes in The Rising Nepal...
According to the Department of Industry (DoI), FDI increased by almost three folds during the last fiscal year compared to fiscal year 2011/12.
Based on the foreign investment projects approved by the DoI, the country received Rs. 21.42 billion foreign direct investment during the fiscal year 2012/13 while it had received only Rs. 7.14 billion during the fiscal year 2011/12.
The number of projects receiving foreign investment during the review period also increased to 317 from 227 a year ago.
Celebration of Investment Year 2012/13 followed by introduction of various reform programmes in the foreign investment sector led to the increase in FDI in the country, said the government officials.
In the recent years, the foreign investment has been poured into the priority sectors such as tourism, energy and agriculture identified by the government.
Of all the priority sectors, the energy sector received the highest amount of FDI followed by service, tourism, manufacturing, construction, agriculture and mineral sectors during the last fiscal year.
On the basis of number of projects receiving FDI, tourism sector topped with 89 projects followed by service (75), manufacturing (74), agriculture (44), mineral (13), energy (12) and construction (10).
In twelve months of last fiscal year, the energy sector received Rs. 5.15 billion FDI for 12 projects against Rs. 3 billion in four projects in the corresponding period the previous fiscal year.
Similarly, Rs. 4.45 billion was invested in 75 projects of the service sector against Rs. 2 billion of the previous fiscal year.
The tourism sector received Rs. 3.92 billion FDI for 89 projects during the review period against Rs. 837.45 million for 64 projects a year before.
Likewise, manufacturing, construction, agriculture and mineral sector received FDI worth Rs. 3.503 billion, Rs. 2.75 billion, Rs. 883 million and Rs. 749 million for 74, 10, 44 and 13 projects respectively.
By the end of fiscal year 2012/13, a total of Rs. 96.57 billion FDI was approved from the DoI for 2, 652 projects.
Talking to The Rising Nepal, Bipin Rajbhandari, chief at the Foreign Investment Division of the DoI, said that the country could lure more foreign investment if it conducted marketing and promotion activities in the potential countries.
Though significant reforms were made in foreign investment sector over the years in the country, negative perception still prevails in the mind of potential investors, we should break this by organizing FDI marketing and promotional activities, he said.

During the last fiscal year, the DoI had introduced various reforms to make the FDI approval process shorter and easier.

DOI has also started providing five-year business visa to the foreign investors who meet the set criteria.

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