By Surojit Gupta
UWB Note: Following is the Reuters report based on the interview of Rameshore Prasad Khanal, Joint Secretary, Finance Ministry. Here is the original article in Reuters website.
HYDERABAD, India, May 6 (Reuters) – Nepal is seeking $1.2 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation and has appealed to the international community for help, a senior finance ministry official said on Saturday.
The Himalayan kingdom is one of the poorest countries in the world and has just returned to democracy after mass protests last month forced King Gyanendra to give up absolute power and reinstate parliament four years after he dissolved it.
Nepal has faced a decade-long insurgency by Maoist rebels, which has killed thousands, but the rebels say they will join talks with the new multi-party government to try to end the uprising.
“Our preliminary estimates show that we will need about $1.2 billion for post-conflict reconstruction,” Rameshore Prasad Khanal, joint secretary in the finance ministry, told Reuters in an interview.
“We are appealing to everybody,” said Khanal, who is representing Nepal at the 39th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
Nepal has per capita annual income of just above $250 and up to 80 percent of its 26 million people depend on farming. It also exports textiles, handicrafts, vegetable oil and carpets.
Remittances from overseas Nepalis bring in about $1.3 billion annually.
Tourism and aid are two other principal sources of foreign exchange, but some donors slowed lending when the king cracked down on a campaign to restore democracy. Tourist arrivals have also fallen because of the unrest.
Khanal said the immediate priority was to improve rural infrastructure and undertake rehabilitation of people affected by the conflict.
He said the government would soon launch a campaign to woo back tourists.
“The Tourism Board will launch the campaign soon in China and India and later in other countries.”
Tourism accounted for about 4 percent of the country’s $6.3 billion gross domestic product in 2004.
Khanal said the government was also working on a strategy to boost hydro-electricity production to end chronic power shortages and wanted private sector firms from other countries to join in projects with the government.
He said the economy had the resilience to bounce back.
“(In) 1990 we grew close to 5.0 percent but in 2001 growth declined to 2.0 percent. Once the conflict is resolved we can clearly go up to 6.0 percent and maybe 7.0-8.0 percent later.”
United We Blog 
Comments
65 responses to “Nepal Seeks 1.2 Billion Dollars For Reconstruction”
Whether this figure is bsaed on good home work and discussion, I don’t know.But other question is whether the International community particularly int’l financial instituitonds would be able to lend its support to Nepal. Again, such money would be utilised efficiently and effectievly for the development of the country or not is another big question. The past expaerience shows that there a big flaw in the implementation aspect and rampant corruption is a hindrance for development.
Yeah I think we all share the same apprehensions. Transparency on how much aid is received and how it is spent is a must.
STOP BEGGING START BUILDING
-More loans means more money to be paid by future generation
-Foreign investors wont invest untill they see profit and if there is profit, its better to build national institutions capable of investing
NOT TO TAKE
-Donations with ties. Bilateral donors donate 1 Dollar and take back .90 dollar via their expats and operational expenses. Why take such unproductive credit? IMF,WB and ADB loan come with ties and the costs are higher than the real outcome.
santosh, so where do we generate the money from? We do need a leg up initially at least.
On another matter. I read an article in the BBC website about how New Delhi was facing an acute power shortage problem. The whole of India has a power shortage problem actually. Can’t we do a deal with them like Bhutan did on the hydropower thingy? Nepali hydropower should be more feasible for the Indian’s than the Bhutanese due to our proximity to their industrial centres (less leakage and infrastructure costs to hook up to their National Grid). It would be good if we could take advantage of India for once.
Kirat,
Definitely, we need hydel projects to export energy to India and definitely we need foreign investments to finance.
The question is which projects to finance, at what costs and what revenues to expect. Allowing FDIs to negotiate directly with India is a good deal but we need to leverage the negotiation with investing companies to favor Nepal. Nepal in itself doesnt have authority, capacity and ability to pursue these mega projects.This means we want tax, revenues and handover in case of BOT/BOOT project from the foreign investors.
My point is micro hydro projects are very profitable and Nepalese companies have demonstrated capacity in building/operating these plants. We dont need foreign money. The government needs to come up with proper legislation and it will be Nepalese investors who will do this task. I personally know couple of Nepalese constructors who are willing to invest in such projects. These projects are very cheap and economical to run compared to donor financed big hydel plants. DONT KILL BUDDING NEPALESE INVESTORS JUST TO PLEASE DONORS, THATS WHAT I AM SAYING.
Definitely, Nepal needs to open up its trade regime and let foreign investors like TATA or Snowy Mountain invest and sell electricity to India. But, it should not be the government of Nepal which takes the risk of business failure. Many donor pushed projects are financially unviable and can be run only with the guarantee that government will buy electricity in a fixed dollor denominated price. I am against it. Why should we pay for incompetency of Donor or donating agencies?
My short memory of events-
– Kulekhani, among the worlds worst hydro projects according to world bank’s own reports
– Bhotekoshi (if i am not mistaken), consumers pay the exhorbitant price as NEA buys electricity in dollars and not in rupees.
– Arun: Ecological disaster and commercially unviable project
Success stories-
-BPC
-Micro hydros
Everything is about how much money the government or the state will make by such projects. Dont trust donor subservient Ram Sharans, you will have to go to sharan of Ram if the project is financially unviable
I think the most importat economic reform in Nepal has to be land/agarian reform. 85% of our population live in rural areas and are involved in agriculture…
I am somewhat skeptical about the feasibility of selling hydro-power to India. India is moving towards nuclear energy. Plus I am not sure if these astonomical costs required for the initial investment in infrastuture will be outweighed by future profitability.
P.S.:
1. lets not try to have one to one conversation. this distracts the readers of the blog
2. the article is about donations in general and not about hydro electricity or any infrastructure plan. Dont mix these two different things. Infrastructure is about FDIs and project specific long term loans ,whereas donations are more about untitled expenses supposedly destined for some weird and unreadable aspects of Human Development.
Actually we have to be very selective to have the donor driven projects. rahter we should not accept them. In the past, it was too much party centred politics. All the parties at that time were looking for money for making their party more stronger to beat the other party. i came to know the when when Khum Bahadur was water resources minster, at that time, he asked one Australian investor company 5 crore Rupees of Commission even before starting the project. He refused and left Nepal the next day.These are the politicians we have at our disposal. Sometimes, I think Martyres have spread their blood worthlessly like water in Dhobi Khola.
KUKUR KO PUCHHAR BARHA BARSHA DHUNGRO MA RAKHE PANI GHUMRI NAI RAHANCHHA.
I think the micro-hydel proejcts are already working well-in areas where Maoists have not disturbed these projects. This is one policy I think the government already has got right, it’s just that the security situation did not allow for it’s growth.
On the bigger hydro projects I was talking about those sweet deals India did with Bhutan. I believe they (Bhutan) have one of the cheapest electricity prices in the world (for domestic users) and also get a healthy remittance from India for the electricity they export. I think we should try and wrangle a similar favour from them too.
We do need money and if talk is about donations specifically then I would like to see the specific areas where the government plans to seek donations for. Infrastructure development must be a key area as it will further stimulate economic growth. Health and education cannot be neglected either-but for me the key is infrastructure development as it usually allows for a lot of other good things to happen.
Comments to Bhudai Pandit:
1.Agrarian Reform: Necessary to let the poorest to have some land entitlements and property.
2. Agro based development: Given fractioned land holdings, century old farming techniques, lack of access to agricultural markets, and lack of agro processing industries, Agro based development is a myth propogated by establishment, maoists and development plans. Commercially viable capital intesive and massive scaled modern agriculture is a day dream in Nepal.
3.Nuclear energy of India: India is trying to develop thorium based nuclear fuel. This technology will take decades to be mastered to be commercially viable. Only plutonium based nuclear fuel is a working technology. By the time India comes up with thorium powered plants, its energy requirement will more than double.
4. Accept the fact: Nepal’s only resource as of now is human resources. its the daju bhai s in arab and malaysia who are feeding the country. why not come up with a national plan to supply qualified laborers to other countries? why not directly negotitate with south korean/ arabic government for filling up manual posts? why not create a legal infrastructure where our modern lahurey’s at least can have basic rights? why not stop the abuse of man power agencies by comign with a national plan?
Ofcourse the whole process of spending the money must be made very transparent and accountable. A job for a reformed and revitalized CIAA?
Good points, santosh.
1.Whatever nuclear energy plans India has it won’t be enough to meet their engery requirements for sure.
2.On the labour front I am against the export of labour for the long term-besides if we make good economic progress our labour won’t be so cheap or feasible any more. Short term wise yes reform is urgently required.
3. On the agriculture side there are certain improvements that can be made. Ofcourse we will never be a very large producer of basic grains like the EU or the US. However because of our unique geographical location we do produce certain cash crops as feasibly as India and China (big markets) e.g. cardamon, tea, yarchgumba, fruits like oranges and apples and many others I am sure. I remember that Dabur had big investment plans for Nepal to grow certain types of himalayan herbs and plants. Ofcourse the Maoist insurgency put an end to that.
It is a good topic for discussion and I have some questions as to how we should finance the reconstruction project. And, I have presented a couple of alternatives as to the financing of future projects.
If you guys want to discuss about this, visit the unmoderated site of ours. UWB, yes, we hate moderation. And we are going to continue this campaign until you give up to our demands.Thanks to the comments by kirat,pundit,sanobhai,confederate,sherlock,prakash among others for making our site full of lively discussions.
ps:click on my name to go to the site.
santosh:
Err.. I don’t agree with you.
85% of our population lives in rural areas and is dependant on farming. Instead of advocating land/agarian reforms so that these people can achieve some socio-economic progress you are telling me that we should just send them to the Middle East and Korea so that they can continue to be low class laborers forever??? What kind of philosophy is that? Besides do you know what the social impact of sending laborers is? You have families without fathers or sons and this all adds up in the end.
More comments
1.Arab Lahureys: I disagree with the viewpoint that its a drain of resource in the long term. Currently, we have too many people with too less resources. Rather than having more unemployed and more maobadi’s + khabadi’s (karyakartas/royalists), these guys are working and bringing revenues to Nepal. Given the state of public education, it will take decades if not centuries to have a workforce which is well trained and competent to fight in a globalized world. Just look at the dropouts in the primary school level in WB reports to see a ghastly picture. What better oppurtunity can you provide them than foreign employment in the short run? Besides, these people when they come back home build homes, and try to create a shop. Isnt this the vital lifeblood that we need for our economy?
2.Infrastructure financing: Definitely we will be needing soft loans from mulilateral/bilateral agencies for infrastructure development.
– Lets first concentrate on resources which are available in the nation. Dry port is being done by Nepalese and came to grinding halt due to government incapacity/intervention. Micro hydro can be a role model for local resources mobilization. Excess liquidity is a problem in Nepalese banking. The problem for local resources is the lack of investment oppurtunities. Lets first try to lift these barriers.
-For roads and other infrastructure, we can go for BOT/BOOT or donar subsidized financing. Mcquarie Bank of Australia by its investments in infrastructure has proved that infrastructure financing can be done commercially and profitably. If its too much of investment, we need help and donors are welcome. The first things is to separate essential and non essential foreign financing.
3.Freedom of expression: I am not taker of starting a new blog. Freedom of expression does not mean that extremists have their voices heard over and over again. Internet enables even the ones with extremist viewpoint to be heard and often these are the people who shout the loudest. If my viewpoing goes to extreme, i would simply expect a honest feedback. UWB is doing a fairly good job. By establishing parallel blogs, you risk to divert attentions of people. In the end everyone will be loser.
(sorry for posting too much – its raining in this grisy looking western european city and i m spending my free time in weekend writing comments/ articles hoping that UWB or others will publish it)
UWB web format is easy and appeling. Beyond that its articles are CRAP and its moderation policy is horse sh*t. I haven’t seem you around santosh before (unless you came with a different name) so perhaps you are not well aquainted with UWB throughly.
Anyway…
shouldn’t the emphasis be trying to improve the state of public education instead of saying it sucks so let’s just send all our people to toil in the heat of the Middle East – where, by the way, the working conditions are inhumane and they get treated worse than animals?
I am not saying we should stop workers going aborad or discounting the benefit in remittance. But I dislike your attitude of trying to patch up a serious deep rooted problem with a temporary remedy.
Before we seek loans for insfrusture investment there needs to be some peace and political stability. The last thing I want is for the government to take loans to build bridges and roads to have the Maoist blow everything up leaving the country to service the debt!
By the way there is no need to apaogize for writing too much … this is what this website is for…
Bhudai Pandit,
You got my view wrong. My point is that 85 % agricultual workforce should be turned to 85% industrial and service workforce. I am strongly for agricultural reform. Land reform of 2021 BS has been a complete failure. I am equally sad to hear the stories of the Kamaiyas. Nepal needs to work on it but this does not create sufficient economic resources for workforce employment. I am suggesting foreign employment for short/ medium term solution.
I value work and my philosophy is work is good. We should not devalorise the honest labor work done by lakhs of nepalese. They work and their desire to improve condition their living condition by themselves without iota of help of the state is salutary. Its better than gun wielding maoists, politicking oppurtunists, and ever complaining unemployeds who dont work considering a low level job as unworthy.
The family members of lahureys are going to private school, living in cities and boosting the local economy. Their sons are in boarding school and they are not going to end in Saudi Arabia. Stop dehumanizing honest workers and dont be so grateless.Its because of them the current nepalese economy is surviving By changing the legal framework, Nepal will be able to have more qualified techniciens and more qualified workforce for modern economy and hopefully more money for the foreign workers.
Kirat,
I doubt whether donors will agree to be controlled for corruption. Remember the newspaper report when autorney general was complaining that donors refused to have their accounts checked by him. Definitely, there needs to be more pressure to donors for more transparancey.
Bhudai Pandit,
I have this bad luck of passing through Abhudhabi, and Dubai every year where I see plight of Nepalese in arab countries. From my point of view, the immediate solution is to have competent people in nepalese embassy abroad and to have a legal infrastructure which guarantes rights of all people queued in those manpower agencies. If the reports from abroad concerning dehumanizing working conditions and excessive exploitation be published and people be made aware, there will be less of these bad incidents. If the government can itself negotiate contracts with foreign governments, at least these people will have some dignity and proper legal treatment. Thats my point and thats why I am taking their side. The solution is definitely not to send people in these draconian countries. But what solutions can you propose except the ones which i suggested to the individuals who are dying to find a work in an immediate future?
the major question should be how to utlize the aid? we had a long history of foreign aid without much improvement? does foreign aid lead to economic growth?
majority of findings in economic research is still unclear about whether foreign aid leads to economic growth in the long run? though there has been micro-level successes, overall there is dearth of evidence that foreign aid will lead to economic growth..
i am still skeptical about this aid thing..donors pouring lots of money….half of them tied to donors interest….and of the remaining half – majority get squandered and embezzeled…
i agree that nepal, at this juncture, needs foreign aid..but there needs to be judicious use of it, which dont lead to a aid dependecny scenario.
i see,
all this rebuilding of Nepal must be done in two ways,
1.firstly, we need to build roads,so that all national resources must be utilised by Nepalese in reasonable cost.
if we build roads from Mustang to Baglung,
the apple costing millions can be utilised,we can stop apple imports..,
next,
2. our farming should be diverted to herb farming, since Nepal has all type of climate , expensive herbs can be exported and can be good money..
3. yes, of course, hydropower plants, sale of bio gas..could make Nepal rich.
4. we must increase our financial relations with china….this nation has bright prospect.
Santosh:
Workers have been going abroad for more than 10 years… so hasn’t your claim materilized?
“The family members of lahureys are going to private school, living in cities and boosting the local economy”
if land reform means redistributing the land then i hate it for one thing, if you divide the big field to small pieces, then you literaly reducing its productivity. that mean you are abusing the limited resources that we have. to export agriculture base product to indian and chinese we need large farm houses managed by big businessmen. larger the business the more efficient use of resouces and finally more cheap end products. that is the besic of big business.
about hydro electricity, india is a good market. i believe she can benefit in two way. due to severe lack of nuclear fuel india still heavely dependent on hydro electricity.
i think we should invite direct foreign investment in big hydro powers, i dont believe on small hydro projects. and there is secondary benefit for india if india decides to invest on hydro powers in nepal. that is to tame the wild rivers. with regular rivers India can irrigate its large farms in UP and Bihar.
third point is to privatize the both sick and profitible government owned institute. i believe it is businessmen who run the business not the government or its agenies.
brain drain has its own benefits. in 70s many indian went to US and other developed nation for study, and now india is benefiting from the knowledge and wealth that they bring to home. and for cheap labour like lahures, i must say it is the fact that the remittence is the thing that keep the nepali business running and it is good thing to have. i dont think we need any restriction on lahure policy. let the dynamics of the labour market decide it. if your country gaurentee the prospective labour market, they will definately return home.
the outside helping hand is temporary solution, to make it permanent you must do your own business. that is only solution that last long.
if you guys want your country’s business running well, you need very stable political system, liberal economy, and market oriented policy and business friendly government. that is why i dont like the maoists and communists the most. they are the most instability factor in most of the countries.
santosh@maine,
Indeed there is no economic theory that proves/shows that donors money leads to economic development. Aid fungibility is a recognized problem. Plus, donor dependancy is already a national disease. But its a historical proof that trade leads to development. The solution is trade but not aid.Guess the single most program which lifted millions out of poor- its the micro credit revolution of Yunush which was a self help approach though there was limited donor participation. The rapid industrialization of ASEAN/India/China is being done primarily by export based economy which is time tested model of economic developement
hammer,
road construction is a good thing in that it creates a temporary/medium term surge in employment. Even modern spain is massively investing in construction to boost employment. About 25% spanish are in construction related jobs.
the solution to himalayan regions is tourism/eco tourism where tourists are made to pay properly and not just cents which is happening now due to market failure. (over competition leading to price wars)
there is a limited potential in agriculture, notably in horticulture and medicinal herbs. But beware of TRIPs and biopiracy
Bhudai,
changes take decade. my cousin went to uae, another went to uk, another went to korea and my villagers are everywhere in the world. i seriously believe that their economic situation has improved.(though a couple of them earned just peanuts and wasted their time). this would improve more if only the government supported rights of workers abroad.
The remittance is about 1.6 billin dollars according to one estimate. I think we should encourage people to leave the country for work if they get at least four times what they get in Nepal.
pawan,
I agree with your viewpoint. i ve some comments to add-
Land distribution is necessary to provide poor agrarian folks a minimum means for subsistence. The solution to productive agriculture is indeed large farm sizes and use of modern tools. The solution is to have co-operatives which manage the big farms and to avoid fractional land ownership. Netherlands has something to teach Nepal about co-operatives. Even in globalized wine farming, the majority of producers are still co-operatives. Look at the diary indusry and you will realize all major global companies are co-ops.
Large as well as small hydel projects are necessary. The question is to select the most viable projects and not necessarily the most donor friendly. My personal point is if a national electricity grid comprising both big and small hydel can be composed, we should go for it as it would be the cheapest way to produce energy.
Taming himalayan rivers through dams have proved unsuccessful. The problem is the silt / deposits carried by the himalayan river.There needs to be a more creative solution than putting a gigantic dam and distributing water.This big dam solution was developed 150/200 years back and we should be able to find some better way.
Privatization is necessary. But lets hope its not going to be russian styled privatization where state assets were sold at the price of crap. The government definitely needs to disengage from running private companies.
Brain drain is an exagerated problem. India and China benefitted hugely for economic development due to their nationals abroad. The real problem is the flow of money from developing countries to developed country. Investments create job and this loss of money is a big problem for all developing countries. A related problem is the pursuance of horse oat economics which says feeding oats with horse will eventually benefit sparrows which will be able to feed on horse shit (trickle down effect)
PS: i stop shouting now; time to watch scifi in tv and be calm for the rest of the WE.
oh damn i forgot one thing.
I learnt accounting with Ramershor Prashad Khanal, who I believe is the secretary who asked for the donation. This guy is among the brightest accountants I have ever met in Nepal.(dont know if he has been able to avoid corruption after passing through RNAC and other state agencies)
oh what a coincidence i also studied accounting and corporate finance with Rameshore prasad khanal ….he’s a great person.
Well Santosh I am not against improving working conditions for our laborers who toil so hard in the Middle East. So long as YOU understand that this is a temporary solution to create employment. So long as you understand that we need to make some deep structural reforms to create sustainable economic development.
Once our democratic system takes root economic development will be easy task. No country in the world has developed on foreign handouts.
LET US ALL SEND MONEY HOME
COLLECT MONEY FOR SCHOOLS IN THE FARWEST.
AGREE OR DISAGREE WE LIVING IN KATHMANDU HAVE EXPLOITED THE SYTEM FOR OUR BENEFIT ONLY.
NOW ITS OUR TURN TO PAY BACK.
I URGE ANY SOCIAL ORGANIZATION TO MOVE IN THIS DIRECTION.
IF PEOPLE CAN DONATE MONEY FOR THE VICTIMS OF AANDOLAN THEY CAN ALSO DONATE FOR DEVELOPMENT.
guys there are some dull, stupid and blind people in this earth ………..Read This Out:
Op-Ed Contributor
It is Time to Stand by The King
By Damien Chettri
The two major parties along with other smaller parties which branded the Maoists as terrorists yesterday are now howling to become close allies with the Maoists!
This clearly tells us that these political parties are not part of the solution but part of the problems of our nation.
They don’t even feel ashamed to howl after being selfish, dishonest, impure and bitter and after they robbed the nation for twelve years. Can we believe them now with their tall talk?
These parties, leaders must note that without the King in Nepal there will be ethnic bloodshed all over Nepal. Therefore the King is the only one person who can unite four castes and thirty-six sub-castes under one umbrella and lead Nepal forward. The King is the unifying force.
This is because he has an ideology. He does not have confused ideology like our present political leaders. Because the leaders as well as people’s morals are also confused and now Nepalese thinking too has been confused.
The crowd during the mass meetings of UML and congress was not their supporters but just lookers. As we all know in Nepal, even when a monkey dances in the street, you see hundreds of people hovering around that. It was the same case with those political parties, meeting.
The leaders of political parties must have thought those people were their supporters. But they are wrong. This is the mind these political leaders have. We must know the battle of Nepal is the battle for the mind of Nepal. A nation’s thinking is in ruins before a nation is ruined. Nepalese have already witnessed these political parties and their performance and are tired of their talk, talk. In these twelve years corruption was an accepted weapon of all the Nepalese political parties. The leaders were too busy looking after their own selfish affairs, they have proved to be a failure in the eyes of Nepali citizens. These leaders dragged Nepal into this present mess. If we listen to their big talk and give them a chance again, they will drag Nepal into total disaster. Let us not give them another chance.
A new type of leader, a new type of statesmanship, a new type of national policy – are our immediate needs. The real battle for Nepal to day is ideological. In any struggle, manpower, munitions, money and military strength, important though they are, are not by themselves an answer without an ideology and all these things will be in vain. We need an ideology of fundamental energy to deal with the problems raised and roused by hate, fear, greed – both in individuals and nation. We need an ideological answer to the Maoists and other hard line parties.
We need this ideology big enough to unite men above castes and class. But a false ideology came to Nepal by these so-called democratic political leaders who do not even know the definition of democracy and so-called Nepali brand communists. A man with an ideology is the truest patriot. A force trained in democracy is ideology, the most priceless national possession.
There is a new dimension of thinking and living at large in the world. There are men giving themselves to remake their nation and the world. The new type of men are men who have conquered greed and bitterness in their lives so they are able to give clarity where other men are blinded by their passion. If more young men in this generation put ideology first, we shall see a different Nepal tomorrow. The art of successful statesmanship in the free world must be to multiply the men with training, conviction and experience to give an ideology to the millions.
Our leaders lack all these because they lack ideology. So, now the only answer to change Nepal and Nepalese life is the present King who is dedicated and devoted to the democracy and development of the nation.
If we want to guard our sovereignty, freedom, social stability and unity, the King must run the country since he has an ideology, which no political leaders have in Nepal. The majority of Nepalese have deep faith in King Gyanendra. His Majesty has to respect this trust and move forward with the people to build a strong and prosperous Nepal. Therefore let all the patriotic Nepalese stand by His Majesty in this venture. The challenge is before us. We have choice to make, Nepal needs an ideology and she must get a right one but not the howling leaders who had have been howling since 1990 without an ideology. These present leaders will bring only frustration and despair to Nepal. But if the King takes the initiative to find those responsible for acts of terror, corruption and punish them and bring the ideology of inspired democracy to Nepal, King Gyanendra’s reign will be written in golden letters.
Copyright © 2006, NewsBlaze, Daily News
Hey, Mr. Damien Damien Chettri??
yeah, the king can stop the etnic bloodshed and other natural devastations as well, coz’ he is visnu ko avatar??……….. hey man take a break………
What time are u in??……. it’s 2063 man….
When the monkey king was dancing in the streets, nobody was watching:
DAKSHINKALI, Kathmandu, May 5 – Twelve days after bowing to the unprecedented people’s movement and relinquishing executive power, King Gyanendra on Friday emerged from the palace and went to Dakshinkali temple to make sacrifice.
Mohan Yonjan, a youth living in Pharping, said that locals along the road paid little attention to the royal motorcade. “Last year, the motorcade was welcomed by hundreds of locals who stood on both sides of the road with flowers and by panchakanyas,” he said.
Yonjan also recalled numerous welcome gates that were erected to welcome the royals last year.
it is 2063 man
An Open Letter to DPM and Foreign Minister Oli
I do not know whether you and your karmachari in the Foreign Ministry read this blog. However, I would like to say to you the the following:
1. Everybody used to say OLI is like GOLI and he is very active politician from UML. But I think only your BOLI seems to be uncontrolled and when it comes to action, you are a BIG ZERO.
2. Now it is already more than one week, you came to power through Jana Andolan. You are not able to decide by the Cabinet the recall of some of the KHUNKHAR MATIYARS of the King. They are still raoming around in the Foreign capitals with the Nepali flags in their cars. Attending official functions as Ambassadors.So what the hell are you doing these days ? Attending BIHA BHOJ OR PAASNI etc.
3. In today’s Kantipur Readers Forum, one gentleman has said that you are ready to continue with the same Ambassadors . I do not know whether it is true or not, but I am ashamed of a DPM like you. Can you continue with the Ambassadors like Prabal, Prajwal, Tara Bahaudur, Victory Shamsher, Narendra Pandey, Karna Dwhoj, Kedar Bhakta etc.
Let us give a break yaar ?
OR Are you listening to the advice of Ramesh Nath’s Chamchas or what ?
I want to see a prompt action from you.
LAAL SALAAM, IF YOU ARE A TRUE REVOLUTIONARY.
Re Hammer’s agenda –
1. Yes, growing herbs is an excellent way forward to earn foreign revenue. Supplement companies in the US and Britian would use them – big names such as Solgar, Nutri, Biocare. There are hundreds of supplement companies around the world.
2. On my treks in Nepal’s mountains I have thought that some of your lakes could be used for growing the Blue-Green Algae (if conditions would be suitable). This commands a very high price. The best scenario would be to process it in Nepal.
3. Take back the rights of being in control of your bottled water. Bottled water generates much revenue.
4. Set up recycling plant(s) in Kathmandu to recycle plastic, glass, paper, aluminium waste.
The Swiss are most efficient at recycling and their methods could be copied, perhaps Switzerland could set up such a plant.
Money to be made in waste.
Of course this latter course of action needs rubbish collection and disposal to be properly
set up.
The way forward is bright for Nepal. You need some honest and forward-thinking advisers.
Good luck.
Another revenue-making idea:
Nepal has no wine industry (as far as I know).
It would be possible to find areas at correct altitude, no frost, to grow vines.
A bottling plant could be situated in the area. This could generate a lot of work and income. Perhaps in the future Nepali wines could be exported to India!
When I look at a lot of the blogs and views from different people, whether I agree with them or not, I think what a waste – We sit hear and argue, while [icd] like Oli and GP and makune and Prachanda are running the country. I suggest that all you bloggers go become politicans, because these uneducated [icd]
And the people who follow them [icd]
Aid has been a failure for Nepal. I think instead of asking for more aid, we should just ask for the previous loans or some of it (I think it amounts to USD 4 billion) from WB etc. to be forgiven, and use our own heads to attract investors. Hydropower is a good start.
Ram Mahat, is a donor baby. He is’nt much of a brain when it comes to doing it without the aid, in fact even with the aid we have been witness to massive leakages and down right bad distribution. In his book he boasts of 5% increase in GDP during his time. With all the aid and loans etc, we should have achieved 7-8% growth or more. I don’t know why he boasts about what I see as a 2-3% loss in GDP (we missed the target).
We have to learn to survive without this aid. We have vast potential for hydro power, and if the govt. wants we can have private investors investing in it without the govt. having to spend much at all. Reliance of India has always shown interest and now with their own Reliance Energy, and the clout they have with their own government, our govt. should not have a problem attracting them to Nepal. Tourism, is truly still largely untapped. Besides our great natural beauty and new locations, we have many religious places for pilgrims if these areas were managed and served well. In India “lesser” religious sites than Pahupatinath and Lumbini attract 1 million visitors from all over. 1 million, visiting just one place of pilgrimage! We don’t even break 500,000 for the entire tourism industry!
We also have great potential for medicinal herbs. Dabur Nepal has just skimmed the surface, but here is another great source of income for our nation.
Besides the obvious political stability, the govt. has to lower it’s taxes and customs duties. The fact that these are high chases investors away. WQe should work on a principle of lower taxes and higher nationwide turnover.
The banking centre is another gold mine, only if the govt. allows Nepal to be a off shore banking nation like Switzerland, and allows flexible foreign currency deposits and also international credit as well.
Another issue is allowing foreigners to own private property here with only some restrictions. The populist line has always been that Indians will come and buy everything. However, the counter argument to that is, first it will bring in money from outside for our country, second it will create more employment, third buying property is not tantamount to buying the nation as these people do not have the same rights as us, fourth you can buy but you cannot physically carry the property out of our borders, fifth investors will only buy property if they see the benefit like people do all over the world and finally people will buy only if the seller is willing to sell. The U.K. is geographically small and many foreigner’s buy property there to the benefit of the govt. and the nation -it is good for our economy therefore good for the nation.
If money flows in the infrastructure building will be easier for the governement and even private and public companies.
However, this is only posssible under a democratic government with a liberal economic policy, and not under governments with outdated views and rigid economics.
The Indians will come in and buy everything is really a stupid idea that only Coke would argue for. Why would Indians take their money and come to Nepal instead of investing in their own country which is experiencing a massive economic boom with soaring real estate prices?
People talk very much of land reform but they don’t try to define the term ‘Land Reform’. Is it proportional distribution of land among rural people? Or is it to engage minimum people in agriculture and divert others to industry? Is it indrustrialization of agriculture with big plots or maximum use of man power with small plots?
I am not an expert. So I request you to enlight me with land reform so much you talk of.
I thank DPM Oli for recalling 12 Ambassadors. I am very happy with the decision.This is what every body expected but you are late by 72 hours.Take the decsion FAST, FAST, FAST……..
Otherwise reactionaries may hatch counter conspiracies.
Limbu:
where is he recalling ambassadors from? and where did you find this out?
Raj:
Land/agarian reform means redistribution and also improving rural infrastructure. Currenly our farmers are not able to produce enough to fulfill the domestic demand and hence we have a flood of Indian agricultural products in the market. We are not even self sufficient in Rice or Wheat and this is a major concern. Given that 85% of Nepalis live in rural areas and are involved in agriculture we are not able to meet our domestic demand. So reform means, I think, to correct this!
My dear pandit,
Where are you now ? You can see everywhere about this news from Nepalnews to Kantipur.
But I realize now that they forgot to recall two other Mandales from Ambssadorship. One is Thakur from Egypt and other is Madhuraman from New York. Because King transferred him to New York from the Foreign Secretary post to make his aborted visit to NY a success.
Madhuraman had already changed hiself to a diehard DURBARIA at that time. He can not escape saying that I am a career diplomat. Where is Murari Raj ? Why is he not reporting to Girrija directly about this.
Limbu
I guess I spoke too fast – yes the news was on the websites.
Madurahman is a hardcore Girija supporter… besides he is a career diplomat.
Mr Pundit
Go and learn sanskrit and sit in Baneras collect some money come to pashupatinath and sing indian bhajans.
remember that Idnian get everything for free no need to buy and invest in Nepal becacuse dogs like you wave your tails when seeing dhotees walking in Nepali streets.