Government, World Bank launch $275 million Butwal-Gorusinghe-Chanauta road

The Government and the World Bank today jointly launched the $275 million (equivalent to Rs 34.96 billion) Accelerating Nepal’s Regional Transport and Trade Connectivity (ACCESS) Project aiming at upgrading Butwal-Gorusinghe-Chanauta road.

Under the project, the 69-kilometer two-lane section of the Butwal-Gorusinghe-Chanauta road along the East-West Highway will be upgraded to a climate-resilient four-lane highway, according to a press note issued by the World Bank. "With a focus on ensuring better road safety, the project is expected to reduce travel time by 30 percent, thus providing better access to India’s western seaports."

The project will construct at least three market areas with required internet and trade information facilities along the highway to help enhance economic opportunities, especially for women entrepreneurs and traders, the press note reads, adding that the project will also support advancing Nepal’s preparedness and subsequent implementation of the Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) signed by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal to allow smooth passage of goods and passenger vehicles in each other’s territories. "It will help improve trade and connectivity by reducing trade and transport costs and transit time along selected corridors in Nepal."

The project was jointly launched by Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala and the World Bank Vice President for South Asia, Martin Raiser.

“The ACCESS project will help develop resilient infrastructure in Nepal and help unlock Nepal’s economic potential through better connectivity and trade, both between the provinces as well as regionally,” said minister Prakash Jwala, after launching the project.

“Enhanced trade and transport connectivity promotes economic integration and opens larger markets among South Asian countries," World Bank vice president for South Asia Region Martin Raiser, on the occasion, said, adding that the ACCESS project will help improve regional trade and promote sustainable infrastructure development to support Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development.

The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Industries, Commerce and Supplies, and Ministry of Forests and Environment. The project’s financing agreement was signed by the Government and the World Bank in September 2022, the press note adds.

Transport workers unions call off protest

Transport workers have retracted their agitation following an agreement to take action against those involved in attacking transport workers, investigate the alleged irregularities in Lhotse Multipurpose, the contractor company hired to operate the New Bus Park, and discuss the remaining issues in a task force.

Confirming the decision, Nepal Transport Independent Workers’ Union chair Bhim Jwala Rai said that they decided to withdraw the protest after the government – during a meeting with Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha among other government representatives held in the ministry today – committed to address their demands.

Public transportation vehicles did not operate in the Valley since early Tuesday morning due to the strike resulting in problems for the commoners.

“The government committed to take action against manager of the Lhotse Company – who attacked the transport workers – Sunil Kunwar and arrest Pankaj Malla, apart from addressing the demands of the transport workers and release the workers who were arrested while staging the demonstration today.

The Transport Workers’ Association yesterday announced that they will halt public transport services in the Kathmandu Valley from today, if their demands are not addressed.

There was no public vehicle on the roads today. Most of the people were either walking to their destination or using Pathau or Drive In.

The government thus, called them for talks, where transport entrepreneurs agreed to withdraw the strike following the talks with the deputy Prime Minister and Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha. Shrestha expressed his commitment to resolve the problems forming a task force, according to chair of Nepal Independent Transport Workers Organisation Rai.

Yesterday, they announced the strike for today in Kathmandu Valley following a violent protest and demonstration in the Balaju-Machhapokhari area of Kathmandu. They said that they had to resort to strike due to the misbehavior by traffic police inside the Kathmandu Valley.

FNCCI organised protest agitation in Gongabu Buspark area on Monday, putting forth 10-point demand, including reduction in the traffic felony penalty. Incident of vandalism and arson were also reported in the course of the agitation. Likewise, the protestors have stolen the mobile phones from the shops run in the business complex.

The protestors also torched temporary police beat located at Balaju Chowk, apart from looting a mobile shop nearby.

Embossed number plates mandatory from mid-March

The Department of Transport Management has issued directives to all authorities to ensure that the government-owned vehicles must have embossed registration number plates installed by mid-March 2022.

Any government-owned vehicle without embossed number plates will be fined Rs 2000, according to the Vehicle and Transport Management Act, 2049 BS, after the end of the deadline, the department confirmed today.

Director General of the department Dr Tokraj Pandey, confirmed that government-owned vehicles have been found to not paying tax since 10 years. “Thus, they are instructed to install embossed numbers,” he said, adding that the installation of embossed number plates will help collect taxes.

The department also informed that the tax must be cleared at the time of installation of embossed number plates. It is expected that the directive to install embossed registration number plates will increase the revenue of the government and the process of installing embossed plates will also be easier.

Passenger transport, cargo fare up

With a hike in fuel prices, public transportation and cargo fare have also gone up with immediate effect, according to the auto-fare mechanism.

The state oil-monopoly yesterday night jacked up the price of petrol by Rs 21 to Rs 199 and diesel by Rs 26 to Rs 192 per litre, forcing the air and land transportation fare to go up.

The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) today approved the new transport fare in  passenger carriers’ up by 5.30 per cent, whereas for the cargo carriers playing on Terai and hills routes, the fare has been hiked by 7.7 per cent and 6.94 per cent, respectively.

According to the auto-pricing mechanism, the government allows transport entrepreneurs to adjust fares upward or downward when fuel prices fluctuate by 5 per cent.

Thus, along with the rise in the prices of petroleum products, fares of public transport go up, accordingly, or vice versa.

Government relaxes prohibitory orders

The Kathmandu Valley district administrations decided to extend the prohibitory orders in the Valley by a week but with some relaxation.

Though, the prohibitory orders will remain in force until  June 28, the private vehicles will be allowed to operate on an odd-even basis, confirmed chief district officer of Kathmandu district, Kali Prasad Parajuli. 

Likewise, taxi services will also operate based on the odd-even system, he said adding that other public transportation services, however, are yet to resume. 

A meeting of the Valley’s three chief district officers today announced the decision to relax the orders starting Tuesday citing the declining cases of Covid-19 infections in the Valley.

The prohibitory orders, first introduced for a week starting April 29, have been extended several times and are due to expire on Monday midnight.

The businesses are also allowed to operate on alternate days, chief district officer of Lalitpur district Dhundi Prasad Niraula, said, adding that the grocery and department stores will be allowed to open till 11 am every day, various other shops will remain open from 11 am to 4 pm and 11 am to 6 pm.

According to chief district officer of Bhaktapur district Prem Prasad Bhattrai, the shops are allowed to open on particular day and particular time. 

"Jewellery shops, electronics stores and automobile shops will be allowed to open on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, whereas shopping malls, clothing stores, gift shops, sports apparel stores and cosmetic shops will be allowed to operate on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays," according to the notice published by the District Administration Office, Kathmandu.

Likewise, restaurants are allowed to run takeaway services till 7 pm, and shops selling construction materials, bathroom fixtures and accessories and furniture stores are allowed to open from 11 am till 6 pm. "Vehicles carrying construction materials are also allowed to operate at night," the notice reads.

The daily Covid-19 cases have been coming down after peaking on May 11 when the country confirmed a record 9,317 new infections. The daily new infection numbers has come down to 1,421 with 51 fatalities, today.

Transport entrepreneurs call for adjustment in fare

 The transport entrepreneurs urged the government to hike transportation fare due to regular increase in prices of petroleum products.

During a meeting with minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Basant Kumar Nembang today, Nepal National Transport Entrepreneurs Federation (NNTEF) today asked the government to adjust the public transportation fare. The representatives of the NNTEF said the fare has not been adjusted since a very long time. "The government had decided to adjust the public transportation fare every year but it has not taken place since the past eight years."

The Department of Transport Management must adjust the public transportation fare by the end of March, according to a press note issued by the president of the Federation Yogendra Nath Karmacharya.

The adjustment of the fare should be based 35 per cent on the rise in price of petroleum products and 65 per cent on the inflation in areas concerning the transportation sector including insurance, tax, bank interest, spare parts, lubricants, the press note reads.

CCMC recommends resumption of cross-border transportation between Nepal and India

 The Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) has recommended the government to resume cross-border transportation between Nepal and India.

A meeting of the CCMC held at the Office of the Prime Minister's Office and council of ministers (OPMCM) in Singha Durbar today decided to recommend the resuming of cross-border transportation bwteen Nepal and India, confirmed secretary at the CCMC Khaga Raj Baral.

"The CCMC meeting has decided to recommend to the cabinet to resume cross-border transportation between Nepal and India via various 12 routes," He said, adding that passengers travelling via land routes should follow the coronavirus protocols and produce a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test report conducted 72 hours before their journey. 

In March last year, the government has decided to suspend cross-border movement between Nepal and India as part of its measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. 

Though, the air services between the two neighbours -- closed after last March  -- has already been resumed, the cross-border transportation has not yet resumed.

Government cancels odd-even rule for public transportation

 After transport entrepreneurs’ pressure to start vehicular traffic, the government today lifted the odd-even rule for the public transportation. The transportation entrepreneurs – including Nepal Transport Workers Association, Nepal Transport Workers Association-Independent and All Nepal Transport Workers Union – have challenged the government to disobey the odd and even rule for vehicular traffic from Friday.

Issuing notices, all the three district administration offices of Kathmandu Valley – Kathmandu, lalitpur and Bhaktapur – today officially announced to end the odd-even system from tomorrow. The decision of lifting odd-even has been made after seeing overcrowding on public transport as people have started moving around with the businesses and offices are also open, the Kathmandu District Office confirmed. “All vehicles can ply in the Valley from tomorrow following health protocols.”

However, the public transportation have not been following the health and safety protocols, though government has been strict on them.

The transport entrepreneurs have been protesting against the government move calling for the lifting of the restrictions as their incomes had been curtailed. The government had imposed nationwide lockdown on March 24 until July 21, forcing the public transport to remain parked in their garages. Transportation is one of the hard hit sector after the government imposed lock down and restriction on movement to contain the coronavirus in Nepal.

Nepal lifts coronavirus lockdown from tonight

After 120 days, the government has lifted the lockdown – which was imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus) – from Tuesday midnight.
The government had imposed lockdown from March 24 and revised in various stages, which has led to an almost complete halt in economic and social activities bleeding the economy red.
Spokesperson of the government, minister for Communication and Information Technology Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada confirmed that the government has decided to lift the lockdown with some sectors still under restrictions. “The educational institutions will remain closed until further decision, though admissions for new sessions will start from August 17.”
Likewise, the government has also decided to allow the hotels and restaurants to resume their businesses and services. “They can open from July 30,” he said, adding that holding feasts with large crowds, however, will not be allowed. “Businesses related to travel, tourism, trekking and mountaineering will, however, resume services from July 30.”
“A meeting of the Council of Ministers yesterday had decided to lift temporary ban on all international and domestic flights in the country,” he said, adding that the cabinet has also lifted ban on long-haul transport services, which will also resume from August 17. The short-distance transportation and movement of private vehicles – with odd and even number – has already resumed after the last revision.
With the resumption of both domestic and international flights starting from August 17, the government has also directed the Ministry of Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation to prepare safety protocol.
According to the ministry, the tourism industry that incurred a loss of over Rs 10 billion a month during the Covid-19-induced nationwide lockdown. “The ministry will first finalise safety protocols by holding consultations with stakeholders concerned,” according to tourism secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari.
“The flights will be resumed in three phases,” he said, adding, “In the first phase, flights will be operated to the destinations that are less affected by Covid-19.” After that, flights will be operated to other destinations in the second and third phases. During the first phase of flight resumption, the airline companies will not be allowed to operate all their aircraft at once. “Permission to operate aircraft will be given based on the destination and the number of passengers,” he said, adding that the ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Health and Population for safety of the passengers travelling through commercial flights, if any health issue arises.
The Ministry of Health and Population is also going to prepare a new guidelines on handling of the arriving air passengers after August 17. “All passengers, who plan to arrive Nepal on charter or repatriation flights until August 16 should go to quarantine centres,” Adhikari said, adding that passengers of the scheduled commercial flights must also show their PCR report to enter Nepal thereafter. “The passengers of the scheduled international flights might also be ordered to go for self-quarantine even after producing the PCR test report.”
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and the airlines companies are also preparing standard operating procedures to resume domestic and international flights.
Once the commercial flights start operating, the Department of Tourism is also planning to issue climbing permits for the autumn season. The department has already started preparing necessary guidelines – with Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for agencies – for climbers and trekkers, who plan to visit Nepal after August 17.

Public transport operators reject government decision to resume service

A day after the government decision to allow short-distance public transport, the transport operators rejected government decision under the current circumstances.
Organising a press meet today, Federation of National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNTE) said that they cannot resume the transportation unless their demands are met.
Putting forth various preconditions for the resumption of public transportation, the Federation asked the government to make provisions for tax waivers, facilitate the implementation of safety precautions onboard public vehicles, and direct banks to allow them to restructure their loans.
“We will not resume public transportation under the current circumstances,” confirmed chairperson of the Federation Yogendra Nath Karmacharya. “The transport entrepreneurs will be able to resume public transportation only after the government addresses our demands including deferral of the bank loan repayment of the lockdown period, exemption from bank loan interest, and lowering of interest on bank loans,” he said, adding that public transportation entrepreneurs have incurred huge losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “It is going to cost us approximately Rs 50,000 to 500,000 per vehicle for maintenance before we can bring our vehicles out on the road.”
During the four months of the lockdown, we had to spend at least Rs 150,000 to 200,000 on maintenance for each vehicle,” the Federation said, adding that they had to spend on the tyres, the battery, and the engine before starting service as the vehicles have remain idle for almost four months.
Hoping that the government will address their demands at the earliest, Karmacharya said that they won't be able to resume public transportation as the operating cost will be high with government recommended safety measures.
He also demanded that the government arrange insurance coverage for the safety of drivers and conductors.
The government yesterday decided to resume public transportation services after huge pressure from the public transport entrepreneurs to allow resuming their service as they are ‘forced to face severe economic hardships due to the prolonged lockdown’. Hundreds of taxi drivers staged a protest in Kathmandu last week demanding the government allow them to resume the service. A parliamentary committee on Wednesday also directed the government to allow taxi operators to resume work.
Some transport entrepreneurs in Pokhara even handed over the keys to the banks, as the banks have been asking them for installment despite the prolonged lockdown. The government had imposed lockdown on Marcy 24 to contain spread of coronavirus (Covid-19). The public transportation has been closed since 109 days.
The government allowed the resumption of public transport within the same district with fifty per cent seating capacity. But the transport entrepreneurs have been asking to hike the fare to double as the operating cost is high, if they follow the safety measures.
The Federation also blamed the government for taking haphazard decision ignoring the costs for public transport operators, and also without consulting them.
“This is gross negligence on the part of the government,” Karmacharya said that they are not going to operate the vehicles and will hand over the keys to the government. “If the government does not fulfil our demands, we will ask the government to repay their bank loans and nationalise our vehicles,” he said, adding that the livelihoods of thousands of people dependent on the transport sector have been affected due to the blanket ban on public transport.

Government allows public vehicles including taxi service, within districts, hikes fare

The government has decided to resume public vehicles including taxi service within the districts and inside Kathmandu Valley after 108 days with enough safety measures, though it has also hiked the fare by 50 per cent.
“A cabinet meeting today decided to allow transport operators to resume public transportation in short route across the country with enough safety precautions but the lockdown restrictions, however, have not been lifted for long distance vehicles,” confirmed Communications and Information Technology minister and government spokesperson Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada. “They will have to comply with enough safety norms, including physical spacing on the seats, use of masks, vizers and gloves by the driver and driver’s assistant, installation of sanitiser dispensers, and disinfection of vehicles once a day,” he said, adding that the public vehicles can carry only half the capacity of the vehicle’s seat and not more and they can charge up to 50 per cent above the normal fare until the lockdown period is fully lifted.
The public transport operators – including taxi drivers – have been protesting against the government for not letting them operate vehicles as most of they have been unable to pay their bank installments due to lockdown since March 24. The government has imposed lockdown since March 24 to contain the spread of covid-19 (coronavirus).
 Khatiwada also said that public transportation will be allowed to operate within the districts outside the valley and they will not be allowed to move from one district to another, except within the three districts of Kathmandu Valley. “Private vehicles will continue to operate on the odd-even modality as usual.”
The government has also allowed taxis to ply inside respective districts and within Kathmandu Valley. “Apart from the driver, two passengers – and a child below five years if of the same family – will only be allowed in the taxis,” he said,
The government has eased the short-distance public transport despite the number of coronavirus cases have been increasing at an alarming rate lately as the transport entrepreneurs have been forced to face severe economic hardship due to prolonged lockdown. Hundreds of taxi drivers had staged a protest in Kathmandu a few days ago demanding the government to allow them resuming the service.

Nepal signs programme implementation agreement with MCC

Nepal has signed a programme implementation agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) representing the US Government, taking the implementation of the $500 million MCC Compact a step forward. The signing of the agreement comes in the wake of criticisms from some leaders of the ruling party over a plan to ratify the compact agreement in the parliament.
According to the Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA-Nepal), finance minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada and vice president of the Department of Compact Operations, MCC Anthony Welcher signed the agreement amid a ceremony at the Finance Ministry today.
The signing ceremony witnessed finance secretary Dr Rajan Khanal, joint secretary and head of International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division (IECCD) Shreekrishna Nepal, executive director at the Millennium Challenge Account-Nepal (MCA-Nepal) Khadga Bahadur Bisht and other MCC and MCA-Nepal representatives,
Under the compact programme, the US is providing Nepal the highest amount of grant, which will be spent for the implementation of Electricity Transmission Project (ETP) and Road Maintenance Project (RMP).
The programme implementation agreement is an important step toward implementing the Compact as it further specifies the terms for implementing the compact and its activities in Nepal including details of the implementation arrangements, fiscal accountability and disbursement and use of MCC funding, among other matters, according to the MCA-Nepal that is the entity established by the government to implement the MCC Compact programmes.
With its signing, Nepal has met one of the key conditions precedent to the June 30, 2020 entry into force (EiF) date after which the five-year clock to implementation of the Compact will start. The EiF date is crucial as the projects financed under the MCC compact must be completed within five years, according to the MCA-Nepal. “Other key conditions were the declaration of the ETP as a national pride project, passage of legislation related to the Electricity Regulatory Commission and formation of the commission and ratification of the compact agreement from the parliament.”
The condition for the ratification of the compact agreement from the parliament has drawn criticisms from some leaders and members from the ruling party Nepal Communist Party (NCP), raising concerns over the fate of the largest grant from the US.
Under the compact, the MCC will provide $500 million in grant while the government will chip in $130 million for the implementation of Electricity Transmission Project (ETP) and Road Maintenance Project (RMP). Altogether 318-km transmission lines of 400kV and three large-capacity substations will be built under the ETP, while the RMP is focused primarily on the maintenance of 300 km of strategic roads.
In September 2017, the US Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed the compact with Nepal. The compact aims to increase the availability and reliability of electricity, improve the quality of the roads network and facilitate power trade between Nepal and India, helping to spur investments and accelerate economic growth that will benefit all Nepalis, according to the MCC.

Transport bodies transform into companies

The transport committees and associations – that are infamous for running transport syndicate – throughout the country has formally transformed into companies from today.
Organising a formal programme in the Valley today, the Federation of Nepali National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE) announced that they have transformed themselves into company modality in line with government’s direction across the country. The government had been claiming to end the transport syndicate a year ago. But it has been extending the date – in the request of the transport entrepreneurs – to transform their committees under the company modality.
“All the transport bodies under FNNTE have transformed themselves into company modality as asked by the government,” general secretary of FNNTE Saroj Sitaula, said, adding that they expect support from the government in the future to strengthen and further improve the public transportation sector of the country.
The transformation of transport bodies into companies has ended the syndicate system that existed in the public transportation sector, announced minister for Transport and Physical Infrastructure Raghubir Mahaseth, inaugurating the programme.
“The government is preparing to constitute transportation management authority,” he said, adding that the authority will address overall issues of the transportation sector. “The government has drafted the bill and is likely to table it in the upcoming meetings of the parliament.”
The government had directed transport committees to operate only after registering under the company modality more than one year ago. But they had been making one or the other excuses. The government then had frozen the bank accounts and other assets of the transport committees to force them register as a ‘company’.
Though practically, there will be no difference between a transportation committee and a transport company, the only difference is that the transport companies will come under government tax net as transport committees were exempt of the tax. 
The public transport sector has transactions worth billions of rupees annually but they are not under the income tax net. Thus, the move will help government mobilise the tax from the public transport sector.
There are over 200,000 public vehicles, including passenger and goods-carrying vehicles across the country, according to the government data that has also claimed that transport committees and associations are expected to be almost 1,500 in number in the country.

Sajha Yatayat seals deal to operate electric buses in valley signed

The Province 3 government, and Kathmandu and Lalitpur metropolis today signed an agreement with Sajha Yatayat to purchase electric buses.
Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning of Province 3 Kailash Prasad Dhungel, Mayor of Kathmandu metropolis Bidya Sundar Shakya, Mayor of Lalitpur metropolis Chiri Babu Maharjan, and chairperson of Sajha Yatayat Co-operative Kanak Mani Dixit signed a four-party memorandum of understanding (MoU) to buy the new electric buses (EVs) in the presence of province 3 Chief Minister Dormani Poudel, to operate electric buses inside the valley.
The provincial government, on the occasion, also handed over a cheque of Rs 300 million to Dixit to purchase the EVs. Besides, Kathmandu and Lalitpur metropolis will provide Rs 100 million and Rs 25 million as their share to the cooperative public transportation organisation to procure EVs. “Sajha itself will invest Rs 25 million in the project,” Dixit said, adding that Sajha will buy 30 electric vehicles by spending Rs 450 million.
The electric buses will come into operation in the Valley within the next 10 months, according to Sajha, which has estimated that 30 electric buses will be purchased after announcing a global tender.
On the occasion, the two metropolis handed over 20 euro-4 vehicles to Sajha. Of the 20 buses, six will operate between the Naya Bus Park and Suryavinayak route, another six buses will operate in the Naya Bus Park-Kamal Vanayak route and eight buses will operate in the Naya Bus Park-Lagankhel-TIA route. For the new buses, the KMC had invested Rs 60 million and LMC has invested Rs 10 million.
With the new buses, the Sajha has a total of 71 buses on its fleet. Earlier the cooperative had been operating 51 buses in 10 different routes in the Kathmandu Valley, with two routes in and out of the valley: the Kathmandu-Waling route and the Kathmandu-Butwal-Bhairawa route.
CM Poudel, after signing the deal, said that the coming age will be the age of electric vehicles. “The provincial government is corresponding with Nepal Electricity Authority regarding putting up required charging stations for the vehicles,” he added.
The government last December also had announced that it would purchase and operate 300 electric buses in major cities, but the plan could not be materialised.
Lalitpur metropolis Mayor Maharjan, speaking at the programme, said the new drive is going to transform the Valley’s transportation system.
Sajha cooperative, on the occasion, also officially unveiled its smart travel card ‘Yatra Card’, which can be used by passengers on all its buses.

India submits pre-feasibility report of Kathmandu-Raxual railway project

India has submitted the pre-feasibility report of Kathmandu-Raxaul railway project to Nepal.
“The Indian government had submitted the report last week through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs aiming at conducting a further feasibility and detailed project report,” according to the foreign ministry.
“We have received the report and will soon forward it to Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport too,” a source at the ministry said, adding that a joint engineering team of Department of Railways (DoRW) and the consultant team of Indian Railways had started conducting the pre-feasibility study of the project on June 8 last year. “The team comprising of members of the technical teams of both the countries has recommended the project to be feasible.”
The joint team had proposed Himal Cement Factory in Chobhar of Kathmandu as a railway station.
Though the government was planning to establish a company to construct the railway, but the process is put on hold because the Indian government has promised to build the railway through its own resources. The Indian Prime Minister had – during his visit to Nepal last May – assured that the entire cost to construct the railway project from Kathmandu to Raxaul would be covered by the Indian government, including establishment of an office, pre-feasibility study, detailed feasibility study (DFS), detailed project report (DPR) and as well as construction.
The works of the feasibility and detailed feasibility study will start by next fiscal year, according to the department that has estimated the railway project to cover a total length of 113-km, of which around 20 per cent will comprise of tunnels and bridges. “The proposed route of the Kathmandu-Raxaul railway will start from Kathmandu and will pass along the Bagmati River all the way to Nijgadh extending through Birgunj to Raxaul.”
Though, a railway track connecting Birgunj to Raxaul already exists, it is yet to be used to transport passengers.

Agreement ends transport cartels

Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and transport entrepreneurs agreed to end the cartel and operate under Company Act in the transport sector after marathon rounds of discussions.
In a meeting held at the Ministry in Kathamndu tonight, transport minister Raghubir Mahaseth, transport secretary and director general of the Department of Transport Management discussed with the agitating transport entrepreneurs to end the cartel. After the five-point agreement, the transport entrepreneurs have also expressed their commitment to support the government initiatives to end the transport cartel by officially withdrawing all kinds of protest programmes. The two sides have also reached an agreement to form a taskforce to make the transport sector more effective and transparent.
The two sides agreed to end all form of cartel in public transportation, to allow individuals with only one public transport to provide services, form a probe committee as per the mandamus issued by the Supreme Court, form a committee incorporating ministers and concerned agencies for consultation, and withdraw from all forms of protests.
Both the parties are going to organise a joint press conference tomorrow to announce the details of agreement reached between the government and transport entrepreneurs.
Late evening, the government has also released 106 transport entrepreneurs including Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE) president Yogendra Nath Karmacharya, senior vice president Bijay Bahadur Swar, general secretary Punya Prasad Sitaula (Saroj), deputy general secretary Basanta Bhandari, treasurer Kiran Kumar Khadka and in-charge of Province 3 Dharma Raj Rimal, who were arrested by the police for not operating their vehicles on Friday.
The transport entrepreneurs – on Friday – had halted public vehicles across the country to force the government to withdraw from its decisions of implementing the new regulation that has directed all the transporters to register their transport committees as a company.
Currently, most of the public vehicles operate under the committees and are blamed for evading tax.
However, the government struck as home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa directed to arrest transport entrepreneurs, cancel route permits and freez their bank accounts. The central bank – after the Home Ministry's request – froze 245 bank accounts of transport entrepreneurs and their committees in the afternoon.

Central bank freezes bank accounts of 245 transport committees

Two days after the government's decision to freeze bank accounts of the agitating transport entrepreneurs committees, the central bank froze their accounts today.
The central bank spokesperson Narayan Prasad Paudel confirmed that the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) today has directed to all banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to freeze the bank accounts of 245 such committees of transport operators.
"We have already instructed to stop making payments from the bank accounts of these committees but today we have issued official circular," he said, adding that the banks will now freeze their accounts.
The central bank – after correspondence from the Finance Ministry – has directed BFIs to freeze the accounts of transport committees defying the government, though they have more than two months time – by the beginning of next fiscal yaer – to convert the transport committees into companies.
The transport committees, which were operating as cartels, had started agitation against a government move to implement the new Transport Regulation. The regulation has not recognised their transport committees which are blamed for practicing cartel and asked them to register under Company Act.
Though, the government can seize the money in the bank accounts of the organisations, whose registrations have been scrapped, according to the law, it is said to be against the individual right to property. 
The Home Ministry along with Transport Ministry – on Friday – had decided to freeze bank accounts of transport committees after they halted the service across the country.

Government starts embossed number plates distribution

After some 25 years, the government has implemented its Act as the Department of Transport Management started issuing high security embossed number plates from today.
Though, the embossed number plates are against the new Constitution -- that does not recognise Zones -- these number plates are readable by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera systems. "The number plates carry a chip which is connected to the vehicle’s GPS system," the department informed, adding that it helps to locate the vehicle in the event of theft.
The government had been long planning to replace the old number plates but it took some two-and-a-half decade to implement the Act that had 25 years envisioned to use embossed number plates. "The department plans to replace all the old number plates by the next five years," it added. "In the first phase, all the government-owned vehicles will have embossed number plates to be followed by diplomatic and personal vehicles."
Five colours of plate and text will be used to differentiate between government vehicles, private and diplomatic vehicles. The numbers will be however be in English only and it might be widely criticised for not using the Nepali numbers, apart from using the Zones instead of Province. 

Public transport fares slashed, albeit nominally

Department of Transport Management has today slashed the public transport fares, albeit nominally that is unlikely to benefit the commuters.  The new fare will come into effect from tomorrow, according to the department.
But the fare cut will not benefit the Kathmanduits. With the reduction in transport fare, minimum transport fare in the Kathmandu valley will remain unchanged at Rs 13 and maximum will be Rs 24. Similarly, fare distance of up to 16 km also remains unchanged. Fare for trips between 16 km and 25 km will come down by Re 1 to Rs 24 from Rs 25. Similarly, passengers will have pay Rs 5 less for every 100 km. The price rate of taxi per km will be Rs 35, a reduction of Rs 1 per km from earlier.
The fares have been reduced by 2.53 per cent in public transport, 1.65 per cent in taxis and 3.76 per cent in Hill cargo and 3.28 per cent in Tarai cargo transport, according to the department.
Likewise, the fare for Kathmandu-Narayanghat-Hetauda has come down to Rs 412 from existing Rs 423, while travelling from Kathmandu to Birgunj or Birgunj to Kathmandu will cost Rs 491, down from Rs 504.
Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation approved the department's decision to cut the fare today afternoon.
Last week, Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers had directed the department to reduce transport fare in line with plummeting fuel prices. When the government last revised the transport fares on September 10, 2015, petrol sold at Rs 104 and diesel at Rs 81 per litre compared to the recent price of Rs 99 and Rs 75, respectively.
Though, the government officials claimed that the new adjustment is scientific, the fare has been reduced on the basis of falling fuel price only. "We have reduced the fare on the basis of Scientific Fare Determination Mechanism," director at the department Mukti KC said.
Fuel carries 35 per cent weightage in the fare adjustment process. Other factors like salary/allowance of drivers/staff, price of spare parts, maintenance, battery, and depreciation, among other indicators, carry 65 per cent weightage.
"The Scientific Fare Determination Mechanism permits us to revise transportation fare only, if price of fuel goes up or down by at least Rs 5 per litre," he said, adding that they have adjusted the new fare as price of petrol and diesel has lately gone down by Rs 5 and Rs 6 per litre, respectively.
However, consumer rights groups claim that passengers do not benefit also because of weak monitoring and implementation by the government side. "The transporters' syndicate is stronger than the government," they claimed, adding that the transporters also have political patronage that the consumers donot have.
But, the government officials – as usual – reiterate that they 'will adopt effective monitoring mechanism and will take action against overcharging transporters."