April 6: Construction of the Postal Highway section in Mahendranagar area has not completed even six years after signing the…
April 6: Construction of the Postal Highway section in Mahendranagar area has not completed even six years after signing the…
April 6: The foreign currency notes left as offerings by the visitors in Lumbini are to be now…
Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) is all set to organize eighth edition of ‘Power Summit-2023’ with slogan Broodening Green Energy Markets in Kathmandu.The two-day summit scheduled for April 18 and 19 will be the largest event in energy sector, according to…
April 5: Works related to digging of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Project in Kathmandu has been halted for 20 days after digging devices got…
After four days’ consecutive fall, the NNEPSE index gained 8.39 points and settled at 1875.07 on Wednesday. NEPSE posted a rise of 0.45 per cent today against the loss of 5.20 points…
April 5: Representatives of Nepal's two major development partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have called on Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and discussed relevant…
April 5: An appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court to acquit 21 people, including the head of Kalika Construction, Bikram Pandey, who were accused of corruption in the Sikta Irrigation Project, one of the national pride projects under construction in…
April 5: The Survey Department has started giving Login user IDs to banks and financial institutions and local level for works related to…
April 5: The price of gold price has set a new record again.…
April 5: Growth in Nepal this year will be slower than previously projected due to the impacts of import restrictions, monetary policy tightening, higher inflation, and shrinking government expenditure, according to the World Bank’s latest…
April 5: The government has decided to cancel the standards for expenditure on peace-related activities, 2078. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma shared that the Council of Ministers on April 3 decided to do away with the…
Following the decision of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation(NOC) to lower the price of aviation fuel for domestic market by Rs 10 per liter, the airlines companies have also slashed the prices of air tickets effective from…
April 4: Former US president Donald Trump turned himself in Tuesday for a historic New York court hearing held amid tight security and a global media…
April 4: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned body responsible for producing and distributing electricity, has taken steps to own majority shares of the Budhi Gandaki hydropower…
The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index dropped 5.20 points to close at 1,866.68 on Tuesday. Tuesday’s NEPSE index point is the lowest of the past 66…
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17469', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Postal Highway Incomplete even after Deadline Extension for Five Times ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Construction of the Postal Highway section in Mahendranagar area has not completed even six years after signing the contract. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Construction of the Postal Highway section in Mahendranagar area has not completed even six years after signing the contract. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The construction of 62 kilometres section of the highway from Dokebazaar to Bedkot of Kanchanpur district should have been completed in 30 months had the construction works moved ahead smoothly. The contract for this section was signed in March 2017. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Twenty-six kilometres of the section of the highway in Kanchanpur district remain to be blacktopped. Engineer at the Postal Highway Project Office, Deepak Sunar admitted that there has been a delay in the construction of the highway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The delay was due to the COVID-19 pandemic and taking approval from the National Park Office. The construction is not complete yet even after extending the deadline for five times," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Construction of 62 kilometres of the Postal Highway was started after awarding the contract in three phases. The first phase included the 20 kilometres road construction from Dokebazaar to Belauri. Ninety percent works have been completed on this section. However, the construction remains incomplete in the remaining two sections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharma-Rajendra JV had been awarded the contract for construction of the road in the first package at a cost of Rs 364.7 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The estimated cost of construction of the 20 kilometres road from Belauri to Beldandi under the second package is Rs 414.1 million. Only nine kilometres of the road in this section has been blacktopped so far, Sunar said. The construction has halted at Chui area on this section due to the obstruction from the Indian side. The Indian security bodies have obstructed blacktopping the road in this location claiming that the road lies within the Indian territory. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Babahansa Siddhisai JV, the construction company responsible for carrying out the construction under the second package, has hardly completed 50 percent of the work. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, only eight and half kilometres of the 22-kilometre section of the highway from Beldandi to Daiji has been blacktopped under the third package in a span of six years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The deadline for completing the works under the second and third package has been extended till mid-July this year. Only 36 kilometres of the highway has been asphalted in six years since the deadline was last extended," Sunar lamented. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local municipalities through which the road passes have been exerting pressure from time to time for the timely completion of the construction works. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17204', 'image' => '20230406110040_postal highway facebook.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 10:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17468', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Currency Offered in Lumbini to be Exchanged ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The foreign currency notes left as offerings by the visitors in Lumbini are to be now exchanged.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: The foreign currency notes left as offerings by the visitors in Lumbini are to be now exchanged. Siddharthanagar-based Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) office and Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) have signed an agreement on exchanging the foreign currency notes, which had not been exchanged since a long time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">LDT treasurer Dhundi Raj Bhattarai and acting director of NRB Siddharthanagar office Shanti Prasad Pandey on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding for exchanging the foreign currency of 20 different countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The highest amount of foreign currency that has been collected as offerings and donation in Lumbini is from Myanmar, LDT treasurer Bhattarai said. He added that the currency notes of Sri Lanka, Mexico, Iraq, Brunei, Lebanon, Peru, Uganda, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Oman among other countries are also in the collection. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These foreign currency notes left at the Mayadevi Temple as donation and offering had been lying idle for a long time, as they are not included in the list of convertible currencies issued by NRB. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although LDT had, from time to time, made initiation to exchange these currency notes, they could not be converted, as they are not in NRB's list of convertible foreign currencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the NRB and LDT entering into agreement for converting these foreign currency notes, foreign currency equivalent to Rs 7.4 million that remained to be converted since fiscal year 2014/15 will go in the process of exchange. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"We had brought up the issue of the foreign currency given as donation or offerings by the visitors coming to Lumbini lying idle as it could not be exchanged, when NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari came to Rupandehi. We also handed him a memorandum, drawing his attention on this issue. An agreement has been reached in principle according to which NRB will exchange this foreign currency," LDT treasurer Bhattarai said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17203', 'image' => '20230406103028_LumbiniRSSS.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 10:29:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17467', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Eighth Edition of 'Power Summit-2023’ to Be Held in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) is all set to organize eighth edition of ‘Power Summit-2023’ with slogan Broodening Green Energy Markets in Kathmandu.The two-day summit scheduled for April 18 and 19 will be the largest event in energy sector, according to IPPAN. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 6: Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) is all set to organize eighth edition of ‘Power Summit-2023’ with slogan Broodening Green Energy Markets in Kathmandu.The two-day summit scheduled for April 18 and 19 will be the largest event in energy sector, according to IPPAN. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investment Board Nepal will co-sponsor the programme with the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation as patron. <br /> The organizers claim that the power summit will prove to be a cornerstone in the expansion of Nepal’s energy market. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">South Asia Forum on Energy Investments will make public report regarding collection of investment in South Asia in the summit(SAFEI). </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A memorandum of understanding will be signed for the direct electricity purchase between Nepal’s hydropower projects and Indian buyers. Various agreements and understandings will be signed for the development and market expansion of renewable energy. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to IPPAN, 15 different sessions will be conducted on various topics including Nepal’s electricity market, transmission infrastructures, demand of hydroelectricity, technology and innovation, solar hydrogen, regulatory agencies, sustainable development in the summit. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">In the programme, Investment Board Nepal and private power producers will exhibit hydropower projects of 5,000 megawatts. <br /> Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will inaugurate the power summit, which will see participation of more than 300 foreign representatives from over 30 countries. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Similarly, high-ranking officials of the Nepal government, electricity trading companies, electricity producers, banks and financial institutions, transmission and distribution companies, think tanks, and other stakeholders of the energy sector will also take part in the power summit. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17202', 'image' => '20230406063428_collage (62).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 06:29:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17466', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Digging Work of Nagdhunga Tunnel Halted for 20 Days ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Works related to digging of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Project in Kathmandu has been halted for 20 days after digging devices got damaged. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: Works related to digging of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Project in Kathmandu has been halted for 20 days after digging devices got damaged. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nagdhunga Tunnel Project shared that earlier they used to dig 3 to 4 metres on an average in a day but the digging has come to a grinding halt for 20 days owing to damages incurred in the machines used to dig the tunnel, shared Project Chief Nabin Man Shrestha. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha added that although other works under the project are ongoing, the progress on the part of tunnel digging has been slow. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The soil in the digging site was substandard and machines are getting damaged frequently," he said, adding, "The kind of rocks being unearthed while digging was different from the survey.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first tunnel way in the country measures 2.7 kilometres in length and has two lanes. The foundation stone of the project was laid in October, 2019 and the physical progress stands at 50.15 per cent so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha further said that talks with the construction company Hazama Ando Corporation is ongoing to resolve the problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Japanese construction company is reeling under human resources crunch and is lacking adequate machines at present, it has been learnt. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tunnel is being constructed with loan assistance from the Government of Japan and is expected to reduce the time to cross the Nagdhunga Pass to one-third of the current time and make transportation of people safe and efficient. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, delays in addressing the compensation issues related to land acquisition has been further pushing the deadline of the project ought to be completed within 42 months from the start of the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Workers falling sick, unavailability of machines and tools and other hurdles during COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the construction process in between. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17201', 'image' => '20230405065239_nagdhungatunnel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 18:51:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17465', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investors in Wait and Watch Mood; Turnover Amount Contracts to 81.60 crores ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'After four days’ consecutive fall, the NNEPSE index gained 8.39 points and settled at 1875.07 on Wednesday. NEPSE posted a rise of 0.45 per cent today against the loss of 5.20 points yesterday.', 'content' => '<p>April 5: After four days’ consecutive fall, the NEPSE index gained 8.39 points and settled at 1875.07 on Wednesday. NEPSE posted a rise of 0.45 per cent today against the loss of 5.20 points yesterday.</p> <p>Though the one and only equity market closed with marginal gain, turnover amount has not gone up. Owing to the lack of confidence, investors have not increased their investment. Since investors are in wait and watch mood, they have not injected fresh cash to the market. </p> <p>As many as 262 scrips traded hands via 21,504 transactions. A total of 2,602,956 shares exchanged hands with the total transaction amount standing at Rs. 81.6 crores . This is lower than the last trading day's turnover of Rs. 91.76 crores.</p> <p>Shivam Cement Limited (SHIVM) shares traded the most and had the highest turnover of Rs. 6.43 crores closing at a market price of Rs. 409 per share.<br /> Likewise, Kalinchowk Darshan Limited (KDL) gained the highest 9.97% and technically hit the positive circuit for the day.</p> <p>Conversely, Citizens Mutual Fund -1 (CMF1) lost the highest 7.14% today.<br /> Out of all traded sub-indices, only three closed in the red zone. "Hotel and Tourism" gained the highest 0.52%, while "Non-Life Insurance" lost the highest 1.04% today.<br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17200', 'image' => '20230405060011_collage - 2023-04-05T175817.116.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 17:55:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17464', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Development Partners urge Finance Minister for Effective Implementation of Projects ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Representatives of Nepal's two major development partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have called on Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and discussed relevant issues. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: Representatives of Nepal's two major development partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have called on Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and discussed relevant issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The WB delegation met with the Minister on Tuesday and the ADB team on Wednesday morning. During the meetings, the development partners urged the minister to take initiatives for the effective implementation of various projects and programmes funded in Nepal by them. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Following a discussion with ADB country director for Nepal Arnaud Cauchois' team on Wednesday morning, Finance Minister Mahat said Nepal's development partners are excited to further invest in Nepal and their concern was that their funds could not be spent on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In addition to this, they were concerned about the delay in the implementation of the projects in absence of timely site clearance, delay in bidding process and the lack of expected progress. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">New development projects and programmes were also discussed. Finance Minister Mahat said that the development partners expressed their interest to assist in Nepal's various sectors. The ADB expressed its concern over the Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project while the WB was concerned about the Arun Hydropower Project. Moreover, they expressed their interests in the budgetary assistance for road projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the separate meetings, the finance minister is said to have apprised the delegations that grants and soft loans were the priorities of Nepal, and the responses were positive. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17199', 'image' => '20230405055012_Fs8OQ8fXwAEn8y-.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 17:49:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17463', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sikta's Corruption Case Lands in Supreme Court', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: An appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court to acquit 21 people, including the head of Kalika Construction, Bikram Pandey, who were accused of corruption in the Sikta Irrigation Project, one of the national pride projects under construction in Banke.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: An appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court to acquit 21 people, including the head of Kalika Construction, Bikram Pandey, who were accused of corruption in the Sikta Irrigation Project, one of the national pride projects under construction in Banke.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Tuesday appealed to the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court. After spending almost Rs 15.5 billion the in the project, the main canal of Sikta collapsed during the testing phase prompting the authority to file a case against Pandey and 20 others who were assigned various responsibilities. However, the special court acquitted the accused on the ground that the original canal had collapsed due to poor structure of the soil.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a legal provision that the contractor company has to bear the responsiblity for all the repairs and maintenance if there is damage to any project within one year of the completion of the construction work. However, the project leaders at that time did not repair the original canal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shortly before the federal election, Pandey was allowed to become a candidate after being acquitted by the Special Court. He also became a minister in the government that was formed immediately after winning the election. The authority has claimed Rs 8.59 billion from all the accused including Rs 2.13 billion from Pandey. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CIAA has filed cases against Saroj Chandra Pandit, director general of the Irrigation Department, project managers Sarvadev Prasad and Ramesh Basnet, senior divisional engineer of the project, managing director of Kalika Construction among others.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17198', 'image' => '20230405021234_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 14:11:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17462', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs, Local Units to Provide Mapping Service of Survey Department', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The Survey Department has started giving Login user IDs to banks and financial institutions and local level for works related to mapping.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 5: The Survey Department has started giving Login user IDs to banks and financial institutions and local level for works related to mapping.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) can use the department’s map for banking work, while the local level can also give the map to the general public, says Janak Raj Joshi, director general of the Survey Department.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For this, the department had written a letter to Nepal Rastra Bank, the regulator of banks and financial institutions, last August and requested for making arrangements for the banks to provide this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This service has been subscribed by Nabil Bank Limited and NIC Asia Bank. The Survey Department’s Director and Information Officer Damodar Dhakal said that one and a half dozen other banks have approached the department to avail this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Before this, any bank and financial institution had to go to the surveyor's office to get a map trace, but now the banks can look at the map themselves for banking operations such as keeping collateral," said Dahal, adding, “Banks have requested for separate user IDs for different branches. We are discussing about issuing one ID for one bank. For this, the department wants to give it to the central body of every financial institution for use within its network.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that giving user IDs to all local levels and banks, the department might have problems in management. The department is using Subisu and Worldlink networks on lease for fiber connectivity of the server.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The department plans to start this service with the commercial banks and gradually expand it to the financial institutions of 'A', 'B' and 'C' category as well as cooperatives.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Land Management and Records Department has already granted permission to banks and financial institutions for the purpose of releasing or withholding land transactions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Balram Kafle, the computer officer of the Land Management Department, said that about </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">300</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> withholdings/releases have already been done by the banks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to him, login user IDs have been taken by all banks. Apart from category B and C, some cooperatives have also taken the permission for this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17197', 'image' => '20230405014822_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 13:47:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17461', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price sets Another Record, Climbs to Rs 111,000 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The price of gold price has set a new record again. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 5: The price of gold price has set a new record again. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the price of gold has increased by Rs 2,000 per tola (11.66 grams) to reach an all-time high of Rs 111,000 per tola. This is the maximum price of gold ever recorded in Nepal so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prior to this, the highest price of gold was recorded on March 19 at Rs 110,000 per tola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The precious yellow metal was traded at Rs 109,000 on Tuesday, the previous trading day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Mani Ratna Shakya, president of the federation, the price of gold has increased due to the increase in the value of the US dollar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“When the price of the dollar increases, it affects the price of gold. There is no way to say how far it will go, I think it will increase further,” he told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of silver has also increased on Wednesday. According to the federation, the price of silver increased by Rs 40 on Wednesday and is being traded at Rs 1,440 per tola. On the previous day, silver was traded at Rs 1,400 per tola.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17196', 'image' => '20230405123454_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 12:33:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17460', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Growth Faces Slowdown Amidst Domestic and External Challenges', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Growth in Nepal this year will be slower than previously projected due to the impacts of import restrictions, monetary policy tightening, higher inflation, and shrinking government expenditure, according to the World Bank’s latest report.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 5: Growth in Nepal this year will be slower than previously projected due to the impacts of import restrictions, monetary policy tightening, higher inflation, and shrinking government expenditure, according to the World Bank’s latest report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The latest Nepal Development Update (April 2023): Fine-Tuning Policy in a Turbulent Environment, released by the World Bank on Tuesday, projects Nepal’s economy to grow by 4.1 percent in FY 2022/23, a downward revision from the October 2022 forecast. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the World Bank said growth is expected to accelerate to 4.9 percent in FY 2023/24, supported by the resumption of tourism, growth in remittances, and the gradual easing of monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, risks to the outlook are tilted downside and include higher-than-expected inflation, which will dampen consumption and growth, the possible impacts of likely rotations in government officials, and rising inequality from reduced investments in human capital, especially amongst those yet to recover from unemployment following the pandemic, added the report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Amid measures taken to address pressures on the external sector, the Nepali economy has faced the unintended consequences of slowdown in economic growth and lower fiscal revenue,” the statement quoted Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s country director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This makes the Government‘s Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) agenda even more pressing. These reforms will yield optimal results as the Government communicates its intended policy changes with the public in advance, takes timely action, and fine-tunes policies during the course of implementation,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the report is a companion piece to the latest South Asia Economic Focus, Expanding Opportunities: Toward Inclusive Growth, which projects regional growth to average 5.6 percent in 2023, a slight downward revision from the October 2022 forecast. Regional growth is expected to remain moderate to 5.9 percent in 2024, following an initial post-pandemic recovery of 8.2 percent in 2021.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Inflation in South Asia is set to fall to 8.9 percent this year, and to below 7 percent in 2024. However, weaker currencies and delayed domestic price adjustments are contributing to a slower than anticipated decline in inflation. Elevated global and domestic food prices are contributing to greater food insecurity for South Asia’s poor who spend a larger share of income on food.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“To move from recovery to sustained growth, South Asia needs to ensure economic development is inclusive. The region has among the world’s highest inequality of opportunity. Between 40 and 60 percent of total inequality in South Asia is driven by circumstances out of an individual’s control such as place of birth, family background, caste, ethnicity, and gender,” the report states.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, intergenerational mobility is also among the world’s lowest in this region. Data highlighted in the report shows that less than 9 percent of individuals whose parents have low levels of education reach education levels of the upper 25 percent. Such disparities lead to differences in access to jobs, earnings, consumption, and welfare and to calls for redistributive policies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“South Asia’s stark socioeconomic divides are both unfair and inefficient. They keep talented individuals from contributing to society, reduce incentives to invest in human capital, and derail long-term economic growth,” said Hans Timmer, World Bank’s chief economist for South Asia. “Addressing these structural issues is vital to ensuring the region can achieve its full potential.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The report recommends continuing to improve the quality of primary education and expanding access to secondary and higher education, evaluate and strengthen affirmative action policies targeted to “low opportunity” groups, and policies to improve the business climate for small and medium enterprises, who account for the bulk of job opportunities for the less well-off. In addition, reducing barriers to labor mobility can have a powerful equalizing impact as urban areas tend to offer more opportunities for social mobility.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17195', 'image' => '20230405111303_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 11:12:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17459', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cabinet Scraps Expenditure in the Name of Peace-Related Activities ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The government has decided to cancel the standards for expenditure on peace-related activities, 2078. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma shared that the Council of Ministers on April 3 decided to do away with the standards. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: The government has decided to cancel the standards for expenditure on peace-related activities, 2078. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma shared that the Council of Ministers on April 3 decided to do away with the standards. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the government has decided to approve the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer (First Amendment) Regulations, 2079. The cabinet meeting also decided to approve the use of the national forest area on the Narayanghat-Butwal road section under the East-West Highway. Similarly, it has been decided to allow the national forest area to be used for the construction of the Jogmai Cascade Hydroelectric Project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Council of Ministers also approved the Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee (Establishment) Order, 2079 and decided to form the Cabinet Committees (Political Committee, Administration Committee, Bill Committee, Social Committee and Economic Infrastructure Committee). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma informed that Bharatpur Hospital and Bheri Hospital will be operated as affiliated hospitals of the National Academy of Medical Sciences. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting of the Council of Ministers also decided to accept about Rs 550 million from the World Environment Facility for the sustainable management of forests, land and biological diversity in the eastern hills of Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has also decided to direct the District Disaster Management Committee Sindhupalchok to provide cash relief to the victims of Jure Landslide. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17194', 'image' => '20230405105332_KB_KTM-IMG_9898.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 10:52:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17457', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Airline Companies Slash Airfare ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' Following the decision of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation(NOC) to lower the price of aviation fuel for domestic market by Rs 10 per liter, the airlines companies have also slashed the prices of air tickets effective from Wednesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px">April 5: Following the decision of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation(NOC) to lower the price of aviation fuel for domestic market by Rs 10 per liter, the airlines companies have also slashed the prices of air tickets effective from Wednesday. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">According to the Airline Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN), the price of an air ticket from Kathmandu to Dhangadhi has decreased by Rs 440. An air ticket from Kathmandu to Dhangadhi now costs Rs 7,070. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Earlier, the airfare was Rs 7,510 per ticket. Similarly, the new airfare for mountain flight is Rs 5,490. A total of Rs 345 has been reduced in the airfare for the flight that is operated from Kathmandu. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Likewise, airfare for Kathmandu- Bhadrapur has decreased by Rs 300, Kathmandu-Biratnagar by Rs 240, and Kathmandu to Janakpur by Rs 130.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The price of air ticket from Kathmandu to Pokhara has reduced by Rs 155, Kathmandu to Bharatpur by Rs 110, Kathmandu to Bhairahawa by Rs 205, Kathmandu to Nepalgunj by Rs 185 and Kathmandu to Surkhet by Rs 345 respectively. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17192', 'image' => '20230405062417_collage (59).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 06:21:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17456', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Donald Trump Turns himself in to Face ‘Historic’ Criminal Charges', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Former US president Donald Trump turned himself in Tuesday for a historic New York court hearing held amid tight security and a global media frenzy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">AGENCIES</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 4: Former US president Donald Trump turned himself in Tuesday for a historic New York court hearing held amid tight security and a global media frenzy. According to AFP, the Republican billionaire became the first American president in history to face criminal charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The hearing marks a watershed moment for the US criminal and political system, with the potential to upend the 2024 White House race in which Trump is currently the presumptive Republican nominee, added the news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The 76-year-old is expected to plead not guilty to a host of charges related to hush money paid to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election that brought him to power, AFP further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the BBC reported that Trump was under arrest after arriving at court. Further details were not available by the time this news was prepared.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17191', 'image' => '20230404113728_NINTCHDBPICT000591662998.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 23:36:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17455', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA takes Steps to be Majority Shareholder of Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned body responsible for producing and distributing electricity, has taken steps to own majority shares of the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project. ', 'content' => '<h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">April 4: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned body responsible for producing and distributing electricity, has taken steps to own majority shares of the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">Having faced many ups and downs since its feasibility study was conducted in 1983/84, the 1200 megawatts national pride project has now almost stalled due to various reasons.</span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">However, the government has decided to give a new lease of life to the project with the establishment of the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Public Limited lately. The establishment of the public limited company has ended uncertainties and issues over the financial and operational modalities of the estimated Rs 331 billion project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">To deal with the issue, a taskforce has been formed under the coordination of the NEA's deputy executive director Pradip Kumar Thike. The share structures will be changed acting on the report given by the taskforce, he said. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">It may be noted that earlier Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had directed the forwarding of the project. So, the share structures of the project would be changed, said Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, who is also a member of the NEA Board of Directors. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">A feasibility study of the project, located in Dhading and Gorkha districts, took place in 1983/84. The NEA carried out another study in 2010. It again conducted a feasibility study, and prepared a detailed design and a bidding document before reaching an agreement with a French company. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">For developing the project, the government led by Dr Baburam Bhattarai had formed a committee to which the French company submitted the detailed project report later in 2014. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">Later in 2017, the ministry and the Chinese company, Gezhouba Group, signed a memorandum of understanding to proceed ahead with the project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">The same year, the government decided to develop the project with domestic investments acting on the report submitted by the National Planning Commission. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">However, again in 2018, then the government led by KP Sharma Oli decided to hand the project to the Gezhouba Group. After the Group lost its contract, the government in 2022 took back the project, and established the Budhi Gandaki hydropower public limited. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">In line with the existing procedures, the authorized capital of the public company will be worth Rs 20 billion, and the issued capital Rs 20 billion. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">As per the existing structures, of the remaining shares of the share issued to the public, the Energy Ministry will have 50 percent stakes, the Finance Ministry 30 percent and the NEA 20 percent. -- RSS</span></span></h4> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17190', 'image' => '20230404070230_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 19:01:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17454', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Index Continues to Tumble; So Does Turnover Amount ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index dropped 5.20 points to close at 1,866.68 on Tuesday. Tuesday’s NEPSE index point is the lowest of the past 66 days.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">April 4: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index dropped 5.20 points to close at 1,866.68 on Tuesday. Tuesday’s NEPSE index point is the lowest of the past 66 days.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">As many as 264 companies listed on the NEPS were traded via 23,170 transactions. A total of 2,971,947 shares exchanged hands amounting to Rs. 91.76 Crores in turnover amount. This is lower than the last trading day's turnover of Rs. 92.02 Crores.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Of the total scrips traded, the prices of 86 companies went up while the prices of 116 companies tumbled. Shivam Cements Limited (SHIVM) reported the highest turnover of Rs. 3.36 crores with a closing price at Rs. 410 per share. The shares of KBLPO traded the most.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Kalinchowk Darshan Limited (KDL) gained the highest 9.98% and technically hit the positive circuit for the day.<br /> Conversely, 8.5% Prabhu Bank Debenture 2087 (PBLD87) lost the highest 9.29% today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Out of 13 sub-indices traded on Tuesday, seven sub-indexes closed in the green zone. “Development Bank" gained the highest 0.31%, while "Non-Life Insurance" lost the highest 1.39% on Tuesday.</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17189', 'image' => '20230404051611_collage - 2023-04-04T171501.203.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 17:11:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17469', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Postal Highway Incomplete even after Deadline Extension for Five Times ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Construction of the Postal Highway section in Mahendranagar area has not completed even six years after signing the contract. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Construction of the Postal Highway section in Mahendranagar area has not completed even six years after signing the contract. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The construction of 62 kilometres section of the highway from Dokebazaar to Bedkot of Kanchanpur district should have been completed in 30 months had the construction works moved ahead smoothly. The contract for this section was signed in March 2017. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Twenty-six kilometres of the section of the highway in Kanchanpur district remain to be blacktopped. Engineer at the Postal Highway Project Office, Deepak Sunar admitted that there has been a delay in the construction of the highway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The delay was due to the COVID-19 pandemic and taking approval from the National Park Office. The construction is not complete yet even after extending the deadline for five times," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Construction of 62 kilometres of the Postal Highway was started after awarding the contract in three phases. The first phase included the 20 kilometres road construction from Dokebazaar to Belauri. Ninety percent works have been completed on this section. However, the construction remains incomplete in the remaining two sections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharma-Rajendra JV had been awarded the contract for construction of the road in the first package at a cost of Rs 364.7 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The estimated cost of construction of the 20 kilometres road from Belauri to Beldandi under the second package is Rs 414.1 million. Only nine kilometres of the road in this section has been blacktopped so far, Sunar said. The construction has halted at Chui area on this section due to the obstruction from the Indian side. The Indian security bodies have obstructed blacktopping the road in this location claiming that the road lies within the Indian territory. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Babahansa Siddhisai JV, the construction company responsible for carrying out the construction under the second package, has hardly completed 50 percent of the work. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, only eight and half kilometres of the 22-kilometre section of the highway from Beldandi to Daiji has been blacktopped under the third package in a span of six years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The deadline for completing the works under the second and third package has been extended till mid-July this year. Only 36 kilometres of the highway has been asphalted in six years since the deadline was last extended," Sunar lamented. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local municipalities through which the road passes have been exerting pressure from time to time for the timely completion of the construction works. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17204', 'image' => '20230406110040_postal highway facebook.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 10:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17468', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Currency Offered in Lumbini to be Exchanged ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The foreign currency notes left as offerings by the visitors in Lumbini are to be now exchanged.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: The foreign currency notes left as offerings by the visitors in Lumbini are to be now exchanged. Siddharthanagar-based Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) office and Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) have signed an agreement on exchanging the foreign currency notes, which had not been exchanged since a long time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">LDT treasurer Dhundi Raj Bhattarai and acting director of NRB Siddharthanagar office Shanti Prasad Pandey on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding for exchanging the foreign currency of 20 different countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The highest amount of foreign currency that has been collected as offerings and donation in Lumbini is from Myanmar, LDT treasurer Bhattarai said. He added that the currency notes of Sri Lanka, Mexico, Iraq, Brunei, Lebanon, Peru, Uganda, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Oman among other countries are also in the collection. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These foreign currency notes left at the Mayadevi Temple as donation and offering had been lying idle for a long time, as they are not included in the list of convertible currencies issued by NRB. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although LDT had, from time to time, made initiation to exchange these currency notes, they could not be converted, as they are not in NRB's list of convertible foreign currencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the NRB and LDT entering into agreement for converting these foreign currency notes, foreign currency equivalent to Rs 7.4 million that remained to be converted since fiscal year 2014/15 will go in the process of exchange. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"We had brought up the issue of the foreign currency given as donation or offerings by the visitors coming to Lumbini lying idle as it could not be exchanged, when NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari came to Rupandehi. We also handed him a memorandum, drawing his attention on this issue. An agreement has been reached in principle according to which NRB will exchange this foreign currency," LDT treasurer Bhattarai said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17203', 'image' => '20230406103028_LumbiniRSSS.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 10:29:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17467', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Eighth Edition of 'Power Summit-2023’ to Be Held in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) is all set to organize eighth edition of ‘Power Summit-2023’ with slogan Broodening Green Energy Markets in Kathmandu.The two-day summit scheduled for April 18 and 19 will be the largest event in energy sector, according to IPPAN. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 6: Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) is all set to organize eighth edition of ‘Power Summit-2023’ with slogan Broodening Green Energy Markets in Kathmandu.The two-day summit scheduled for April 18 and 19 will be the largest event in energy sector, according to IPPAN. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investment Board Nepal will co-sponsor the programme with the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation as patron. <br /> The organizers claim that the power summit will prove to be a cornerstone in the expansion of Nepal’s energy market. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">South Asia Forum on Energy Investments will make public report regarding collection of investment in South Asia in the summit(SAFEI). </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A memorandum of understanding will be signed for the direct electricity purchase between Nepal’s hydropower projects and Indian buyers. Various agreements and understandings will be signed for the development and market expansion of renewable energy. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to IPPAN, 15 different sessions will be conducted on various topics including Nepal’s electricity market, transmission infrastructures, demand of hydroelectricity, technology and innovation, solar hydrogen, regulatory agencies, sustainable development in the summit. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">In the programme, Investment Board Nepal and private power producers will exhibit hydropower projects of 5,000 megawatts. <br /> Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will inaugurate the power summit, which will see participation of more than 300 foreign representatives from over 30 countries. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Similarly, high-ranking officials of the Nepal government, electricity trading companies, electricity producers, banks and financial institutions, transmission and distribution companies, think tanks, and other stakeholders of the energy sector will also take part in the power summit. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17202', 'image' => '20230406063428_collage (62).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 06:29:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17466', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Digging Work of Nagdhunga Tunnel Halted for 20 Days ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Works related to digging of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Project in Kathmandu has been halted for 20 days after digging devices got damaged. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: Works related to digging of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Project in Kathmandu has been halted for 20 days after digging devices got damaged. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nagdhunga Tunnel Project shared that earlier they used to dig 3 to 4 metres on an average in a day but the digging has come to a grinding halt for 20 days owing to damages incurred in the machines used to dig the tunnel, shared Project Chief Nabin Man Shrestha. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha added that although other works under the project are ongoing, the progress on the part of tunnel digging has been slow. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The soil in the digging site was substandard and machines are getting damaged frequently," he said, adding, "The kind of rocks being unearthed while digging was different from the survey.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first tunnel way in the country measures 2.7 kilometres in length and has two lanes. The foundation stone of the project was laid in October, 2019 and the physical progress stands at 50.15 per cent so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha further said that talks with the construction company Hazama Ando Corporation is ongoing to resolve the problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Japanese construction company is reeling under human resources crunch and is lacking adequate machines at present, it has been learnt. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tunnel is being constructed with loan assistance from the Government of Japan and is expected to reduce the time to cross the Nagdhunga Pass to one-third of the current time and make transportation of people safe and efficient. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, delays in addressing the compensation issues related to land acquisition has been further pushing the deadline of the project ought to be completed within 42 months from the start of the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Workers falling sick, unavailability of machines and tools and other hurdles during COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the construction process in between. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17201', 'image' => '20230405065239_nagdhungatunnel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 18:51:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17465', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investors in Wait and Watch Mood; Turnover Amount Contracts to 81.60 crores ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'After four days’ consecutive fall, the NNEPSE index gained 8.39 points and settled at 1875.07 on Wednesday. NEPSE posted a rise of 0.45 per cent today against the loss of 5.20 points yesterday.', 'content' => '<p>April 5: After four days’ consecutive fall, the NEPSE index gained 8.39 points and settled at 1875.07 on Wednesday. NEPSE posted a rise of 0.45 per cent today against the loss of 5.20 points yesterday.</p> <p>Though the one and only equity market closed with marginal gain, turnover amount has not gone up. Owing to the lack of confidence, investors have not increased their investment. Since investors are in wait and watch mood, they have not injected fresh cash to the market. </p> <p>As many as 262 scrips traded hands via 21,504 transactions. A total of 2,602,956 shares exchanged hands with the total transaction amount standing at Rs. 81.6 crores . This is lower than the last trading day's turnover of Rs. 91.76 crores.</p> <p>Shivam Cement Limited (SHIVM) shares traded the most and had the highest turnover of Rs. 6.43 crores closing at a market price of Rs. 409 per share.<br /> Likewise, Kalinchowk Darshan Limited (KDL) gained the highest 9.97% and technically hit the positive circuit for the day.</p> <p>Conversely, Citizens Mutual Fund -1 (CMF1) lost the highest 7.14% today.<br /> Out of all traded sub-indices, only three closed in the red zone. "Hotel and Tourism" gained the highest 0.52%, while "Non-Life Insurance" lost the highest 1.04% today.<br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17200', 'image' => '20230405060011_collage - 2023-04-05T175817.116.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 17:55:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17464', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Development Partners urge Finance Minister for Effective Implementation of Projects ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Representatives of Nepal's two major development partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have called on Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and discussed relevant issues. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: Representatives of Nepal's two major development partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have called on Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and discussed relevant issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The WB delegation met with the Minister on Tuesday and the ADB team on Wednesday morning. During the meetings, the development partners urged the minister to take initiatives for the effective implementation of various projects and programmes funded in Nepal by them. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Following a discussion with ADB country director for Nepal Arnaud Cauchois' team on Wednesday morning, Finance Minister Mahat said Nepal's development partners are excited to further invest in Nepal and their concern was that their funds could not be spent on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In addition to this, they were concerned about the delay in the implementation of the projects in absence of timely site clearance, delay in bidding process and the lack of expected progress. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">New development projects and programmes were also discussed. Finance Minister Mahat said that the development partners expressed their interest to assist in Nepal's various sectors. The ADB expressed its concern over the Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project while the WB was concerned about the Arun Hydropower Project. Moreover, they expressed their interests in the budgetary assistance for road projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the separate meetings, the finance minister is said to have apprised the delegations that grants and soft loans were the priorities of Nepal, and the responses were positive. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17199', 'image' => '20230405055012_Fs8OQ8fXwAEn8y-.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 17:49:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17463', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sikta's Corruption Case Lands in Supreme Court', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: An appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court to acquit 21 people, including the head of Kalika Construction, Bikram Pandey, who were accused of corruption in the Sikta Irrigation Project, one of the national pride projects under construction in Banke.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: An appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court to acquit 21 people, including the head of Kalika Construction, Bikram Pandey, who were accused of corruption in the Sikta Irrigation Project, one of the national pride projects under construction in Banke.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Tuesday appealed to the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court. After spending almost Rs 15.5 billion the in the project, the main canal of Sikta collapsed during the testing phase prompting the authority to file a case against Pandey and 20 others who were assigned various responsibilities. However, the special court acquitted the accused on the ground that the original canal had collapsed due to poor structure of the soil.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a legal provision that the contractor company has to bear the responsiblity for all the repairs and maintenance if there is damage to any project within one year of the completion of the construction work. However, the project leaders at that time did not repair the original canal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shortly before the federal election, Pandey was allowed to become a candidate after being acquitted by the Special Court. He also became a minister in the government that was formed immediately after winning the election. The authority has claimed Rs 8.59 billion from all the accused including Rs 2.13 billion from Pandey. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CIAA has filed cases against Saroj Chandra Pandit, director general of the Irrigation Department, project managers Sarvadev Prasad and Ramesh Basnet, senior divisional engineer of the project, managing director of Kalika Construction among others.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17198', 'image' => '20230405021234_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 14:11:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17462', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs, Local Units to Provide Mapping Service of Survey Department', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The Survey Department has started giving Login user IDs to banks and financial institutions and local level for works related to mapping.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 5: The Survey Department has started giving Login user IDs to banks and financial institutions and local level for works related to mapping.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) can use the department’s map for banking work, while the local level can also give the map to the general public, says Janak Raj Joshi, director general of the Survey Department.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For this, the department had written a letter to Nepal Rastra Bank, the regulator of banks and financial institutions, last August and requested for making arrangements for the banks to provide this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This service has been subscribed by Nabil Bank Limited and NIC Asia Bank. The Survey Department’s Director and Information Officer Damodar Dhakal said that one and a half dozen other banks have approached the department to avail this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Before this, any bank and financial institution had to go to the surveyor's office to get a map trace, but now the banks can look at the map themselves for banking operations such as keeping collateral," said Dahal, adding, “Banks have requested for separate user IDs for different branches. We are discussing about issuing one ID for one bank. For this, the department wants to give it to the central body of every financial institution for use within its network.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that giving user IDs to all local levels and banks, the department might have problems in management. The department is using Subisu and Worldlink networks on lease for fiber connectivity of the server.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The department plans to start this service with the commercial banks and gradually expand it to the financial institutions of 'A', 'B' and 'C' category as well as cooperatives.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Land Management and Records Department has already granted permission to banks and financial institutions for the purpose of releasing or withholding land transactions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Balram Kafle, the computer officer of the Land Management Department, said that about </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">300</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> withholdings/releases have already been done by the banks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to him, login user IDs have been taken by all banks. Apart from category B and C, some cooperatives have also taken the permission for this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17197', 'image' => '20230405014822_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 13:47:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17461', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price sets Another Record, Climbs to Rs 111,000 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The price of gold price has set a new record again. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 5: The price of gold price has set a new record again. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the price of gold has increased by Rs 2,000 per tola (11.66 grams) to reach an all-time high of Rs 111,000 per tola. This is the maximum price of gold ever recorded in Nepal so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prior to this, the highest price of gold was recorded on March 19 at Rs 110,000 per tola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The precious yellow metal was traded at Rs 109,000 on Tuesday, the previous trading day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Mani Ratna Shakya, president of the federation, the price of gold has increased due to the increase in the value of the US dollar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“When the price of the dollar increases, it affects the price of gold. There is no way to say how far it will go, I think it will increase further,” he told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of silver has also increased on Wednesday. According to the federation, the price of silver increased by Rs 40 on Wednesday and is being traded at Rs 1,440 per tola. On the previous day, silver was traded at Rs 1,400 per tola.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17196', 'image' => '20230405123454_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 12:33:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17460', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Growth Faces Slowdown Amidst Domestic and External Challenges', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Growth in Nepal this year will be slower than previously projected due to the impacts of import restrictions, monetary policy tightening, higher inflation, and shrinking government expenditure, according to the World Bank’s latest report.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 5: Growth in Nepal this year will be slower than previously projected due to the impacts of import restrictions, monetary policy tightening, higher inflation, and shrinking government expenditure, according to the World Bank’s latest report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The latest Nepal Development Update (April 2023): Fine-Tuning Policy in a Turbulent Environment, released by the World Bank on Tuesday, projects Nepal’s economy to grow by 4.1 percent in FY 2022/23, a downward revision from the October 2022 forecast. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the World Bank said growth is expected to accelerate to 4.9 percent in FY 2023/24, supported by the resumption of tourism, growth in remittances, and the gradual easing of monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, risks to the outlook are tilted downside and include higher-than-expected inflation, which will dampen consumption and growth, the possible impacts of likely rotations in government officials, and rising inequality from reduced investments in human capital, especially amongst those yet to recover from unemployment following the pandemic, added the report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Amid measures taken to address pressures on the external sector, the Nepali economy has faced the unintended consequences of slowdown in economic growth and lower fiscal revenue,” the statement quoted Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s country director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This makes the Government‘s Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) agenda even more pressing. These reforms will yield optimal results as the Government communicates its intended policy changes with the public in advance, takes timely action, and fine-tunes policies during the course of implementation,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the report is a companion piece to the latest South Asia Economic Focus, Expanding Opportunities: Toward Inclusive Growth, which projects regional growth to average 5.6 percent in 2023, a slight downward revision from the October 2022 forecast. Regional growth is expected to remain moderate to 5.9 percent in 2024, following an initial post-pandemic recovery of 8.2 percent in 2021.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Inflation in South Asia is set to fall to 8.9 percent this year, and to below 7 percent in 2024. However, weaker currencies and delayed domestic price adjustments are contributing to a slower than anticipated decline in inflation. Elevated global and domestic food prices are contributing to greater food insecurity for South Asia’s poor who spend a larger share of income on food.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“To move from recovery to sustained growth, South Asia needs to ensure economic development is inclusive. The region has among the world’s highest inequality of opportunity. Between 40 and 60 percent of total inequality in South Asia is driven by circumstances out of an individual’s control such as place of birth, family background, caste, ethnicity, and gender,” the report states.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, intergenerational mobility is also among the world’s lowest in this region. Data highlighted in the report shows that less than 9 percent of individuals whose parents have low levels of education reach education levels of the upper 25 percent. Such disparities lead to differences in access to jobs, earnings, consumption, and welfare and to calls for redistributive policies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“South Asia’s stark socioeconomic divides are both unfair and inefficient. They keep talented individuals from contributing to society, reduce incentives to invest in human capital, and derail long-term economic growth,” said Hans Timmer, World Bank’s chief economist for South Asia. “Addressing these structural issues is vital to ensuring the region can achieve its full potential.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The report recommends continuing to improve the quality of primary education and expanding access to secondary and higher education, evaluate and strengthen affirmative action policies targeted to “low opportunity” groups, and policies to improve the business climate for small and medium enterprises, who account for the bulk of job opportunities for the less well-off. In addition, reducing barriers to labor mobility can have a powerful equalizing impact as urban areas tend to offer more opportunities for social mobility.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17195', 'image' => '20230405111303_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 11:12:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17459', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cabinet Scraps Expenditure in the Name of Peace-Related Activities ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The government has decided to cancel the standards for expenditure on peace-related activities, 2078. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma shared that the Council of Ministers on April 3 decided to do away with the standards. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: The government has decided to cancel the standards for expenditure on peace-related activities, 2078. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma shared that the Council of Ministers on April 3 decided to do away with the standards. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the government has decided to approve the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer (First Amendment) Regulations, 2079. The cabinet meeting also decided to approve the use of the national forest area on the Narayanghat-Butwal road section under the East-West Highway. Similarly, it has been decided to allow the national forest area to be used for the construction of the Jogmai Cascade Hydroelectric Project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Council of Ministers also approved the Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee (Establishment) Order, 2079 and decided to form the Cabinet Committees (Political Committee, Administration Committee, Bill Committee, Social Committee and Economic Infrastructure Committee). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma informed that Bharatpur Hospital and Bheri Hospital will be operated as affiliated hospitals of the National Academy of Medical Sciences. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting of the Council of Ministers also decided to accept about Rs 550 million from the World Environment Facility for the sustainable management of forests, land and biological diversity in the eastern hills of Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has also decided to direct the District Disaster Management Committee Sindhupalchok to provide cash relief to the victims of Jure Landslide. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17194', 'image' => '20230405105332_KB_KTM-IMG_9898.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 10:52:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17457', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Airline Companies Slash Airfare ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' Following the decision of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation(NOC) to lower the price of aviation fuel for domestic market by Rs 10 per liter, the airlines companies have also slashed the prices of air tickets effective from Wednesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px">April 5: Following the decision of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation(NOC) to lower the price of aviation fuel for domestic market by Rs 10 per liter, the airlines companies have also slashed the prices of air tickets effective from Wednesday. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">According to the Airline Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN), the price of an air ticket from Kathmandu to Dhangadhi has decreased by Rs 440. An air ticket from Kathmandu to Dhangadhi now costs Rs 7,070. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Earlier, the airfare was Rs 7,510 per ticket. Similarly, the new airfare for mountain flight is Rs 5,490. A total of Rs 345 has been reduced in the airfare for the flight that is operated from Kathmandu. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Likewise, airfare for Kathmandu- Bhadrapur has decreased by Rs 300, Kathmandu-Biratnagar by Rs 240, and Kathmandu to Janakpur by Rs 130.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The price of air ticket from Kathmandu to Pokhara has reduced by Rs 155, Kathmandu to Bharatpur by Rs 110, Kathmandu to Bhairahawa by Rs 205, Kathmandu to Nepalgunj by Rs 185 and Kathmandu to Surkhet by Rs 345 respectively. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17192', 'image' => '20230405062417_collage (59).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 06:21:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17456', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Donald Trump Turns himself in to Face ‘Historic’ Criminal Charges', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Former US president Donald Trump turned himself in Tuesday for a historic New York court hearing held amid tight security and a global media frenzy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">AGENCIES</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 4: Former US president Donald Trump turned himself in Tuesday for a historic New York court hearing held amid tight security and a global media frenzy. According to AFP, the Republican billionaire became the first American president in history to face criminal charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The hearing marks a watershed moment for the US criminal and political system, with the potential to upend the 2024 White House race in which Trump is currently the presumptive Republican nominee, added the news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The 76-year-old is expected to plead not guilty to a host of charges related to hush money paid to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election that brought him to power, AFP further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the BBC reported that Trump was under arrest after arriving at court. Further details were not available by the time this news was prepared.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17191', 'image' => '20230404113728_NINTCHDBPICT000591662998.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 23:36:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17455', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA takes Steps to be Majority Shareholder of Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned body responsible for producing and distributing electricity, has taken steps to own majority shares of the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project. ', 'content' => '<h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">April 4: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned body responsible for producing and distributing electricity, has taken steps to own majority shares of the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">Having faced many ups and downs since its feasibility study was conducted in 1983/84, the 1200 megawatts national pride project has now almost stalled due to various reasons.</span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">However, the government has decided to give a new lease of life to the project with the establishment of the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Public Limited lately. The establishment of the public limited company has ended uncertainties and issues over the financial and operational modalities of the estimated Rs 331 billion project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">To deal with the issue, a taskforce has been formed under the coordination of the NEA's deputy executive director Pradip Kumar Thike. The share structures will be changed acting on the report given by the taskforce, he said. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">It may be noted that earlier Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had directed the forwarding of the project. So, the share structures of the project would be changed, said Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, who is also a member of the NEA Board of Directors. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">A feasibility study of the project, located in Dhading and Gorkha districts, took place in 1983/84. The NEA carried out another study in 2010. It again conducted a feasibility study, and prepared a detailed design and a bidding document before reaching an agreement with a French company. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">For developing the project, the government led by Dr Baburam Bhattarai had formed a committee to which the French company submitted the detailed project report later in 2014. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">Later in 2017, the ministry and the Chinese company, Gezhouba Group, signed a memorandum of understanding to proceed ahead with the project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">The same year, the government decided to develop the project with domestic investments acting on the report submitted by the National Planning Commission. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">However, again in 2018, then the government led by KP Sharma Oli decided to hand the project to the Gezhouba Group. After the Group lost its contract, the government in 2022 took back the project, and established the Budhi Gandaki hydropower public limited. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">In line with the existing procedures, the authorized capital of the public company will be worth Rs 20 billion, and the issued capital Rs 20 billion. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">As per the existing structures, of the remaining shares of the share issued to the public, the Energy Ministry will have 50 percent stakes, the Finance Ministry 30 percent and the NEA 20 percent. -- RSS</span></span></h4> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17190', 'image' => '20230404070230_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 19:01:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17454', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Index Continues to Tumble; So Does Turnover Amount ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index dropped 5.20 points to close at 1,866.68 on Tuesday. Tuesday’s NEPSE index point is the lowest of the past 66 days.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">April 4: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index dropped 5.20 points to close at 1,866.68 on Tuesday. Tuesday’s NEPSE index point is the lowest of the past 66 days.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">As many as 264 companies listed on the NEPS were traded via 23,170 transactions. A total of 2,971,947 shares exchanged hands amounting to Rs. 91.76 Crores in turnover amount. This is lower than the last trading day's turnover of Rs. 92.02 Crores.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Of the total scrips traded, the prices of 86 companies went up while the prices of 116 companies tumbled. Shivam Cements Limited (SHIVM) reported the highest turnover of Rs. 3.36 crores with a closing price at Rs. 410 per share. The shares of KBLPO traded the most.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Kalinchowk Darshan Limited (KDL) gained the highest 9.98% and technically hit the positive circuit for the day.<br /> Conversely, 8.5% Prabhu Bank Debenture 2087 (PBLD87) lost the highest 9.29% today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Out of 13 sub-indices traded on Tuesday, seven sub-indexes closed in the green zone. “Development Bank" gained the highest 0.31%, while "Non-Life Insurance" lost the highest 1.39% on Tuesday.</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17189', 'image' => '20230404051611_collage - 2023-04-04T171501.203.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 17:11:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17469', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Postal Highway Incomplete even after Deadline Extension for Five Times ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Construction of the Postal Highway section in Mahendranagar area has not completed even six years after signing the contract. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Construction of the Postal Highway section in Mahendranagar area has not completed even six years after signing the contract. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The construction of 62 kilometres section of the highway from Dokebazaar to Bedkot of Kanchanpur district should have been completed in 30 months had the construction works moved ahead smoothly. The contract for this section was signed in March 2017. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Twenty-six kilometres of the section of the highway in Kanchanpur district remain to be blacktopped. Engineer at the Postal Highway Project Office, Deepak Sunar admitted that there has been a delay in the construction of the highway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The delay was due to the COVID-19 pandemic and taking approval from the National Park Office. The construction is not complete yet even after extending the deadline for five times," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Construction of 62 kilometres of the Postal Highway was started after awarding the contract in three phases. The first phase included the 20 kilometres road construction from Dokebazaar to Belauri. Ninety percent works have been completed on this section. However, the construction remains incomplete in the remaining two sections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharma-Rajendra JV had been awarded the contract for construction of the road in the first package at a cost of Rs 364.7 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The estimated cost of construction of the 20 kilometres road from Belauri to Beldandi under the second package is Rs 414.1 million. Only nine kilometres of the road in this section has been blacktopped so far, Sunar said. The construction has halted at Chui area on this section due to the obstruction from the Indian side. The Indian security bodies have obstructed blacktopping the road in this location claiming that the road lies within the Indian territory. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Babahansa Siddhisai JV, the construction company responsible for carrying out the construction under the second package, has hardly completed 50 percent of the work. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, only eight and half kilometres of the 22-kilometre section of the highway from Beldandi to Daiji has been blacktopped under the third package in a span of six years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The deadline for completing the works under the second and third package has been extended till mid-July this year. Only 36 kilometres of the highway has been asphalted in six years since the deadline was last extended," Sunar lamented. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local municipalities through which the road passes have been exerting pressure from time to time for the timely completion of the construction works. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17204', 'image' => '20230406110040_postal highway facebook.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 10:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17468', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Currency Offered in Lumbini to be Exchanged ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The foreign currency notes left as offerings by the visitors in Lumbini are to be now exchanged.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: The foreign currency notes left as offerings by the visitors in Lumbini are to be now exchanged. Siddharthanagar-based Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) office and Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) have signed an agreement on exchanging the foreign currency notes, which had not been exchanged since a long time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">LDT treasurer Dhundi Raj Bhattarai and acting director of NRB Siddharthanagar office Shanti Prasad Pandey on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding for exchanging the foreign currency of 20 different countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The highest amount of foreign currency that has been collected as offerings and donation in Lumbini is from Myanmar, LDT treasurer Bhattarai said. He added that the currency notes of Sri Lanka, Mexico, Iraq, Brunei, Lebanon, Peru, Uganda, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Oman among other countries are also in the collection. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These foreign currency notes left at the Mayadevi Temple as donation and offering had been lying idle for a long time, as they are not included in the list of convertible currencies issued by NRB. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although LDT had, from time to time, made initiation to exchange these currency notes, they could not be converted, as they are not in NRB's list of convertible foreign currencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the NRB and LDT entering into agreement for converting these foreign currency notes, foreign currency equivalent to Rs 7.4 million that remained to be converted since fiscal year 2014/15 will go in the process of exchange. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"We had brought up the issue of the foreign currency given as donation or offerings by the visitors coming to Lumbini lying idle as it could not be exchanged, when NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari came to Rupandehi. We also handed him a memorandum, drawing his attention on this issue. An agreement has been reached in principle according to which NRB will exchange this foreign currency," LDT treasurer Bhattarai said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17203', 'image' => '20230406103028_LumbiniRSSS.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 10:29:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17467', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Eighth Edition of 'Power Summit-2023’ to Be Held in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) is all set to organize eighth edition of ‘Power Summit-2023’ with slogan Broodening Green Energy Markets in Kathmandu.The two-day summit scheduled for April 18 and 19 will be the largest event in energy sector, according to IPPAN. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 6: Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) is all set to organize eighth edition of ‘Power Summit-2023’ with slogan Broodening Green Energy Markets in Kathmandu.The two-day summit scheduled for April 18 and 19 will be the largest event in energy sector, according to IPPAN. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investment Board Nepal will co-sponsor the programme with the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation as patron. <br /> The organizers claim that the power summit will prove to be a cornerstone in the expansion of Nepal’s energy market. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">South Asia Forum on Energy Investments will make public report regarding collection of investment in South Asia in the summit(SAFEI). </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A memorandum of understanding will be signed for the direct electricity purchase between Nepal’s hydropower projects and Indian buyers. Various agreements and understandings will be signed for the development and market expansion of renewable energy. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to IPPAN, 15 different sessions will be conducted on various topics including Nepal’s electricity market, transmission infrastructures, demand of hydroelectricity, technology and innovation, solar hydrogen, regulatory agencies, sustainable development in the summit. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">In the programme, Investment Board Nepal and private power producers will exhibit hydropower projects of 5,000 megawatts. <br /> Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will inaugurate the power summit, which will see participation of more than 300 foreign representatives from over 30 countries. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Similarly, high-ranking officials of the Nepal government, electricity trading companies, electricity producers, banks and financial institutions, transmission and distribution companies, think tanks, and other stakeholders of the energy sector will also take part in the power summit. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17202', 'image' => '20230406063428_collage (62).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 06:29:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17466', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Digging Work of Nagdhunga Tunnel Halted for 20 Days ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Works related to digging of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Project in Kathmandu has been halted for 20 days after digging devices got damaged. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: Works related to digging of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Project in Kathmandu has been halted for 20 days after digging devices got damaged. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nagdhunga Tunnel Project shared that earlier they used to dig 3 to 4 metres on an average in a day but the digging has come to a grinding halt for 20 days owing to damages incurred in the machines used to dig the tunnel, shared Project Chief Nabin Man Shrestha. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha added that although other works under the project are ongoing, the progress on the part of tunnel digging has been slow. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The soil in the digging site was substandard and machines are getting damaged frequently," he said, adding, "The kind of rocks being unearthed while digging was different from the survey.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first tunnel way in the country measures 2.7 kilometres in length and has two lanes. The foundation stone of the project was laid in October, 2019 and the physical progress stands at 50.15 per cent so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha further said that talks with the construction company Hazama Ando Corporation is ongoing to resolve the problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Japanese construction company is reeling under human resources crunch and is lacking adequate machines at present, it has been learnt. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tunnel is being constructed with loan assistance from the Government of Japan and is expected to reduce the time to cross the Nagdhunga Pass to one-third of the current time and make transportation of people safe and efficient. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, delays in addressing the compensation issues related to land acquisition has been further pushing the deadline of the project ought to be completed within 42 months from the start of the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Workers falling sick, unavailability of machines and tools and other hurdles during COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the construction process in between. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17201', 'image' => '20230405065239_nagdhungatunnel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 18:51:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17465', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investors in Wait and Watch Mood; Turnover Amount Contracts to 81.60 crores ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'After four days’ consecutive fall, the NNEPSE index gained 8.39 points and settled at 1875.07 on Wednesday. NEPSE posted a rise of 0.45 per cent today against the loss of 5.20 points yesterday.', 'content' => '<p>April 5: After four days’ consecutive fall, the NEPSE index gained 8.39 points and settled at 1875.07 on Wednesday. NEPSE posted a rise of 0.45 per cent today against the loss of 5.20 points yesterday.</p> <p>Though the one and only equity market closed with marginal gain, turnover amount has not gone up. Owing to the lack of confidence, investors have not increased their investment. Since investors are in wait and watch mood, they have not injected fresh cash to the market. </p> <p>As many as 262 scrips traded hands via 21,504 transactions. A total of 2,602,956 shares exchanged hands with the total transaction amount standing at Rs. 81.6 crores . This is lower than the last trading day's turnover of Rs. 91.76 crores.</p> <p>Shivam Cement Limited (SHIVM) shares traded the most and had the highest turnover of Rs. 6.43 crores closing at a market price of Rs. 409 per share.<br /> Likewise, Kalinchowk Darshan Limited (KDL) gained the highest 9.97% and technically hit the positive circuit for the day.</p> <p>Conversely, Citizens Mutual Fund -1 (CMF1) lost the highest 7.14% today.<br /> Out of all traded sub-indices, only three closed in the red zone. "Hotel and Tourism" gained the highest 0.52%, while "Non-Life Insurance" lost the highest 1.04% today.<br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17200', 'image' => '20230405060011_collage - 2023-04-05T175817.116.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 17:55:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17464', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Development Partners urge Finance Minister for Effective Implementation of Projects ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Representatives of Nepal's two major development partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have called on Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and discussed relevant issues. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: Representatives of Nepal's two major development partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have called on Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and discussed relevant issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The WB delegation met with the Minister on Tuesday and the ADB team on Wednesday morning. During the meetings, the development partners urged the minister to take initiatives for the effective implementation of various projects and programmes funded in Nepal by them. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Following a discussion with ADB country director for Nepal Arnaud Cauchois' team on Wednesday morning, Finance Minister Mahat said Nepal's development partners are excited to further invest in Nepal and their concern was that their funds could not be spent on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In addition to this, they were concerned about the delay in the implementation of the projects in absence of timely site clearance, delay in bidding process and the lack of expected progress. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">New development projects and programmes were also discussed. Finance Minister Mahat said that the development partners expressed their interest to assist in Nepal's various sectors. The ADB expressed its concern over the Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project while the WB was concerned about the Arun Hydropower Project. Moreover, they expressed their interests in the budgetary assistance for road projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the separate meetings, the finance minister is said to have apprised the delegations that grants and soft loans were the priorities of Nepal, and the responses were positive. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17199', 'image' => '20230405055012_Fs8OQ8fXwAEn8y-.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 17:49:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17463', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sikta's Corruption Case Lands in Supreme Court', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: An appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court to acquit 21 people, including the head of Kalika Construction, Bikram Pandey, who were accused of corruption in the Sikta Irrigation Project, one of the national pride projects under construction in Banke.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: An appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court to acquit 21 people, including the head of Kalika Construction, Bikram Pandey, who were accused of corruption in the Sikta Irrigation Project, one of the national pride projects under construction in Banke.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Tuesday appealed to the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court. After spending almost Rs 15.5 billion the in the project, the main canal of Sikta collapsed during the testing phase prompting the authority to file a case against Pandey and 20 others who were assigned various responsibilities. However, the special court acquitted the accused on the ground that the original canal had collapsed due to poor structure of the soil.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a legal provision that the contractor company has to bear the responsiblity for all the repairs and maintenance if there is damage to any project within one year of the completion of the construction work. However, the project leaders at that time did not repair the original canal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shortly before the federal election, Pandey was allowed to become a candidate after being acquitted by the Special Court. He also became a minister in the government that was formed immediately after winning the election. The authority has claimed Rs 8.59 billion from all the accused including Rs 2.13 billion from Pandey. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CIAA has filed cases against Saroj Chandra Pandit, director general of the Irrigation Department, project managers Sarvadev Prasad and Ramesh Basnet, senior divisional engineer of the project, managing director of Kalika Construction among others.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17198', 'image' => '20230405021234_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 14:11:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17462', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs, Local Units to Provide Mapping Service of Survey Department', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The Survey Department has started giving Login user IDs to banks and financial institutions and local level for works related to mapping.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 5: The Survey Department has started giving Login user IDs to banks and financial institutions and local level for works related to mapping.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) can use the department’s map for banking work, while the local level can also give the map to the general public, says Janak Raj Joshi, director general of the Survey Department.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For this, the department had written a letter to Nepal Rastra Bank, the regulator of banks and financial institutions, last August and requested for making arrangements for the banks to provide this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This service has been subscribed by Nabil Bank Limited and NIC Asia Bank. The Survey Department’s Director and Information Officer Damodar Dhakal said that one and a half dozen other banks have approached the department to avail this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Before this, any bank and financial institution had to go to the surveyor's office to get a map trace, but now the banks can look at the map themselves for banking operations such as keeping collateral," said Dahal, adding, “Banks have requested for separate user IDs for different branches. We are discussing about issuing one ID for one bank. For this, the department wants to give it to the central body of every financial institution for use within its network.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that giving user IDs to all local levels and banks, the department might have problems in management. The department is using Subisu and Worldlink networks on lease for fiber connectivity of the server.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The department plans to start this service with the commercial banks and gradually expand it to the financial institutions of 'A', 'B' and 'C' category as well as cooperatives.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Land Management and Records Department has already granted permission to banks and financial institutions for the purpose of releasing or withholding land transactions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Balram Kafle, the computer officer of the Land Management Department, said that about </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">300</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> withholdings/releases have already been done by the banks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to him, login user IDs have been taken by all banks. Apart from category B and C, some cooperatives have also taken the permission for this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17197', 'image' => '20230405014822_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 13:47:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17461', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price sets Another Record, Climbs to Rs 111,000 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The price of gold price has set a new record again. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 5: The price of gold price has set a new record again. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the price of gold has increased by Rs 2,000 per tola (11.66 grams) to reach an all-time high of Rs 111,000 per tola. This is the maximum price of gold ever recorded in Nepal so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prior to this, the highest price of gold was recorded on March 19 at Rs 110,000 per tola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The precious yellow metal was traded at Rs 109,000 on Tuesday, the previous trading day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Mani Ratna Shakya, president of the federation, the price of gold has increased due to the increase in the value of the US dollar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“When the price of the dollar increases, it affects the price of gold. There is no way to say how far it will go, I think it will increase further,” he told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of silver has also increased on Wednesday. According to the federation, the price of silver increased by Rs 40 on Wednesday and is being traded at Rs 1,440 per tola. On the previous day, silver was traded at Rs 1,400 per tola.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17196', 'image' => '20230405123454_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 12:33:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17460', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Growth Faces Slowdown Amidst Domestic and External Challenges', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Growth in Nepal this year will be slower than previously projected due to the impacts of import restrictions, monetary policy tightening, higher inflation, and shrinking government expenditure, according to the World Bank’s latest report.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 5: Growth in Nepal this year will be slower than previously projected due to the impacts of import restrictions, monetary policy tightening, higher inflation, and shrinking government expenditure, according to the World Bank’s latest report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The latest Nepal Development Update (April 2023): Fine-Tuning Policy in a Turbulent Environment, released by the World Bank on Tuesday, projects Nepal’s economy to grow by 4.1 percent in FY 2022/23, a downward revision from the October 2022 forecast. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the World Bank said growth is expected to accelerate to 4.9 percent in FY 2023/24, supported by the resumption of tourism, growth in remittances, and the gradual easing of monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, risks to the outlook are tilted downside and include higher-than-expected inflation, which will dampen consumption and growth, the possible impacts of likely rotations in government officials, and rising inequality from reduced investments in human capital, especially amongst those yet to recover from unemployment following the pandemic, added the report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Amid measures taken to address pressures on the external sector, the Nepali economy has faced the unintended consequences of slowdown in economic growth and lower fiscal revenue,” the statement quoted Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s country director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This makes the Government‘s Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) agenda even more pressing. These reforms will yield optimal results as the Government communicates its intended policy changes with the public in advance, takes timely action, and fine-tunes policies during the course of implementation,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the report is a companion piece to the latest South Asia Economic Focus, Expanding Opportunities: Toward Inclusive Growth, which projects regional growth to average 5.6 percent in 2023, a slight downward revision from the October 2022 forecast. Regional growth is expected to remain moderate to 5.9 percent in 2024, following an initial post-pandemic recovery of 8.2 percent in 2021.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Inflation in South Asia is set to fall to 8.9 percent this year, and to below 7 percent in 2024. However, weaker currencies and delayed domestic price adjustments are contributing to a slower than anticipated decline in inflation. Elevated global and domestic food prices are contributing to greater food insecurity for South Asia’s poor who spend a larger share of income on food.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“To move from recovery to sustained growth, South Asia needs to ensure economic development is inclusive. The region has among the world’s highest inequality of opportunity. Between 40 and 60 percent of total inequality in South Asia is driven by circumstances out of an individual’s control such as place of birth, family background, caste, ethnicity, and gender,” the report states.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, intergenerational mobility is also among the world’s lowest in this region. Data highlighted in the report shows that less than 9 percent of individuals whose parents have low levels of education reach education levels of the upper 25 percent. Such disparities lead to differences in access to jobs, earnings, consumption, and welfare and to calls for redistributive policies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“South Asia’s stark socioeconomic divides are both unfair and inefficient. They keep talented individuals from contributing to society, reduce incentives to invest in human capital, and derail long-term economic growth,” said Hans Timmer, World Bank’s chief economist for South Asia. “Addressing these structural issues is vital to ensuring the region can achieve its full potential.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The report recommends continuing to improve the quality of primary education and expanding access to secondary and higher education, evaluate and strengthen affirmative action policies targeted to “low opportunity” groups, and policies to improve the business climate for small and medium enterprises, who account for the bulk of job opportunities for the less well-off. In addition, reducing barriers to labor mobility can have a powerful equalizing impact as urban areas tend to offer more opportunities for social mobility.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17195', 'image' => '20230405111303_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 11:12:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17459', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cabinet Scraps Expenditure in the Name of Peace-Related Activities ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The government has decided to cancel the standards for expenditure on peace-related activities, 2078. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma shared that the Council of Ministers on April 3 decided to do away with the standards. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: The government has decided to cancel the standards for expenditure on peace-related activities, 2078. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma shared that the Council of Ministers on April 3 decided to do away with the standards. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the government has decided to approve the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer (First Amendment) Regulations, 2079. The cabinet meeting also decided to approve the use of the national forest area on the Narayanghat-Butwal road section under the East-West Highway. Similarly, it has been decided to allow the national forest area to be used for the construction of the Jogmai Cascade Hydroelectric Project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Council of Ministers also approved the Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee (Establishment) Order, 2079 and decided to form the Cabinet Committees (Political Committee, Administration Committee, Bill Committee, Social Committee and Economic Infrastructure Committee). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma informed that Bharatpur Hospital and Bheri Hospital will be operated as affiliated hospitals of the National Academy of Medical Sciences. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting of the Council of Ministers also decided to accept about Rs 550 million from the World Environment Facility for the sustainable management of forests, land and biological diversity in the eastern hills of Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has also decided to direct the District Disaster Management Committee Sindhupalchok to provide cash relief to the victims of Jure Landslide. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17194', 'image' => '20230405105332_KB_KTM-IMG_9898.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 10:52:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17457', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Airline Companies Slash Airfare ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' Following the decision of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation(NOC) to lower the price of aviation fuel for domestic market by Rs 10 per liter, the airlines companies have also slashed the prices of air tickets effective from Wednesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px">April 5: Following the decision of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation(NOC) to lower the price of aviation fuel for domestic market by Rs 10 per liter, the airlines companies have also slashed the prices of air tickets effective from Wednesday. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">According to the Airline Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN), the price of an air ticket from Kathmandu to Dhangadhi has decreased by Rs 440. An air ticket from Kathmandu to Dhangadhi now costs Rs 7,070. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Earlier, the airfare was Rs 7,510 per ticket. Similarly, the new airfare for mountain flight is Rs 5,490. A total of Rs 345 has been reduced in the airfare for the flight that is operated from Kathmandu. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Likewise, airfare for Kathmandu- Bhadrapur has decreased by Rs 300, Kathmandu-Biratnagar by Rs 240, and Kathmandu to Janakpur by Rs 130.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The price of air ticket from Kathmandu to Pokhara has reduced by Rs 155, Kathmandu to Bharatpur by Rs 110, Kathmandu to Bhairahawa by Rs 205, Kathmandu to Nepalgunj by Rs 185 and Kathmandu to Surkhet by Rs 345 respectively. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17192', 'image' => '20230405062417_collage (59).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 06:21:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17456', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Donald Trump Turns himself in to Face ‘Historic’ Criminal Charges', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Former US president Donald Trump turned himself in Tuesday for a historic New York court hearing held amid tight security and a global media frenzy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">AGENCIES</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 4: Former US president Donald Trump turned himself in Tuesday for a historic New York court hearing held amid tight security and a global media frenzy. According to AFP, the Republican billionaire became the first American president in history to face criminal charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The hearing marks a watershed moment for the US criminal and political system, with the potential to upend the 2024 White House race in which Trump is currently the presumptive Republican nominee, added the news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The 76-year-old is expected to plead not guilty to a host of charges related to hush money paid to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election that brought him to power, AFP further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the BBC reported that Trump was under arrest after arriving at court. Further details were not available by the time this news was prepared.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17191', 'image' => '20230404113728_NINTCHDBPICT000591662998.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 23:36:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17455', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA takes Steps to be Majority Shareholder of Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned body responsible for producing and distributing electricity, has taken steps to own majority shares of the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project. ', 'content' => '<h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">April 4: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned body responsible for producing and distributing electricity, has taken steps to own majority shares of the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">Having faced many ups and downs since its feasibility study was conducted in 1983/84, the 1200 megawatts national pride project has now almost stalled due to various reasons.</span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">However, the government has decided to give a new lease of life to the project with the establishment of the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Public Limited lately. The establishment of the public limited company has ended uncertainties and issues over the financial and operational modalities of the estimated Rs 331 billion project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">To deal with the issue, a taskforce has been formed under the coordination of the NEA's deputy executive director Pradip Kumar Thike. The share structures will be changed acting on the report given by the taskforce, he said. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">It may be noted that earlier Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had directed the forwarding of the project. So, the share structures of the project would be changed, said Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, who is also a member of the NEA Board of Directors. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">A feasibility study of the project, located in Dhading and Gorkha districts, took place in 1983/84. The NEA carried out another study in 2010. It again conducted a feasibility study, and prepared a detailed design and a bidding document before reaching an agreement with a French company. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">For developing the project, the government led by Dr Baburam Bhattarai had formed a committee to which the French company submitted the detailed project report later in 2014. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">Later in 2017, the ministry and the Chinese company, Gezhouba Group, signed a memorandum of understanding to proceed ahead with the project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">The same year, the government decided to develop the project with domestic investments acting on the report submitted by the National Planning Commission. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">However, again in 2018, then the government led by KP Sharma Oli decided to hand the project to the Gezhouba Group. After the Group lost its contract, the government in 2022 took back the project, and established the Budhi Gandaki hydropower public limited. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">In line with the existing procedures, the authorized capital of the public company will be worth Rs 20 billion, and the issued capital Rs 20 billion. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">As per the existing structures, of the remaining shares of the share issued to the public, the Energy Ministry will have 50 percent stakes, the Finance Ministry 30 percent and the NEA 20 percent. -- RSS</span></span></h4> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17190', 'image' => '20230404070230_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 19:01:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17454', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Index Continues to Tumble; So Does Turnover Amount ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index dropped 5.20 points to close at 1,866.68 on Tuesday. Tuesday’s NEPSE index point is the lowest of the past 66 days.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">April 4: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index dropped 5.20 points to close at 1,866.68 on Tuesday. Tuesday’s NEPSE index point is the lowest of the past 66 days.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">As many as 264 companies listed on the NEPS were traded via 23,170 transactions. A total of 2,971,947 shares exchanged hands amounting to Rs. 91.76 Crores in turnover amount. This is lower than the last trading day's turnover of Rs. 92.02 Crores.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Of the total scrips traded, the prices of 86 companies went up while the prices of 116 companies tumbled. Shivam Cements Limited (SHIVM) reported the highest turnover of Rs. 3.36 crores with a closing price at Rs. 410 per share. The shares of KBLPO traded the most.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Kalinchowk Darshan Limited (KDL) gained the highest 9.98% and technically hit the positive circuit for the day.<br /> Conversely, 8.5% Prabhu Bank Debenture 2087 (PBLD87) lost the highest 9.29% today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Out of 13 sub-indices traded on Tuesday, seven sub-indexes closed in the green zone. “Development Bank" gained the highest 0.31%, while "Non-Life Insurance" lost the highest 1.39% on Tuesday.</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17189', 'image' => '20230404051611_collage - 2023-04-04T171501.203.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 17:11:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17469', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Postal Highway Incomplete even after Deadline Extension for Five Times ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Construction of the Postal Highway section in Mahendranagar area has not completed even six years after signing the contract. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Construction of the Postal Highway section in Mahendranagar area has not completed even six years after signing the contract. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The construction of 62 kilometres section of the highway from Dokebazaar to Bedkot of Kanchanpur district should have been completed in 30 months had the construction works moved ahead smoothly. The contract for this section was signed in March 2017. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Twenty-six kilometres of the section of the highway in Kanchanpur district remain to be blacktopped. Engineer at the Postal Highway Project Office, Deepak Sunar admitted that there has been a delay in the construction of the highway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The delay was due to the COVID-19 pandemic and taking approval from the National Park Office. The construction is not complete yet even after extending the deadline for five times," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Construction of 62 kilometres of the Postal Highway was started after awarding the contract in three phases. The first phase included the 20 kilometres road construction from Dokebazaar to Belauri. Ninety percent works have been completed on this section. However, the construction remains incomplete in the remaining two sections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharma-Rajendra JV had been awarded the contract for construction of the road in the first package at a cost of Rs 364.7 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The estimated cost of construction of the 20 kilometres road from Belauri to Beldandi under the second package is Rs 414.1 million. Only nine kilometres of the road in this section has been blacktopped so far, Sunar said. The construction has halted at Chui area on this section due to the obstruction from the Indian side. The Indian security bodies have obstructed blacktopping the road in this location claiming that the road lies within the Indian territory. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Babahansa Siddhisai JV, the construction company responsible for carrying out the construction under the second package, has hardly completed 50 percent of the work. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, only eight and half kilometres of the 22-kilometre section of the highway from Beldandi to Daiji has been blacktopped under the third package in a span of six years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The deadline for completing the works under the second and third package has been extended till mid-July this year. Only 36 kilometres of the highway has been asphalted in six years since the deadline was last extended," Sunar lamented. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local municipalities through which the road passes have been exerting pressure from time to time for the timely completion of the construction works. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17204', 'image' => '20230406110040_postal highway facebook.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 10:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17468', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Currency Offered in Lumbini to be Exchanged ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The foreign currency notes left as offerings by the visitors in Lumbini are to be now exchanged.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: The foreign currency notes left as offerings by the visitors in Lumbini are to be now exchanged. Siddharthanagar-based Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) office and Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) have signed an agreement on exchanging the foreign currency notes, which had not been exchanged since a long time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">LDT treasurer Dhundi Raj Bhattarai and acting director of NRB Siddharthanagar office Shanti Prasad Pandey on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding for exchanging the foreign currency of 20 different countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The highest amount of foreign currency that has been collected as offerings and donation in Lumbini is from Myanmar, LDT treasurer Bhattarai said. He added that the currency notes of Sri Lanka, Mexico, Iraq, Brunei, Lebanon, Peru, Uganda, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Oman among other countries are also in the collection. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These foreign currency notes left at the Mayadevi Temple as donation and offering had been lying idle for a long time, as they are not included in the list of convertible currencies issued by NRB. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although LDT had, from time to time, made initiation to exchange these currency notes, they could not be converted, as they are not in NRB's list of convertible foreign currencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the NRB and LDT entering into agreement for converting these foreign currency notes, foreign currency equivalent to Rs 7.4 million that remained to be converted since fiscal year 2014/15 will go in the process of exchange. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"We had brought up the issue of the foreign currency given as donation or offerings by the visitors coming to Lumbini lying idle as it could not be exchanged, when NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari came to Rupandehi. We also handed him a memorandum, drawing his attention on this issue. An agreement has been reached in principle according to which NRB will exchange this foreign currency," LDT treasurer Bhattarai said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17203', 'image' => '20230406103028_LumbiniRSSS.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 10:29:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17467', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Eighth Edition of 'Power Summit-2023’ to Be Held in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) is all set to organize eighth edition of ‘Power Summit-2023’ with slogan Broodening Green Energy Markets in Kathmandu.The two-day summit scheduled for April 18 and 19 will be the largest event in energy sector, according to IPPAN. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 6: Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) is all set to organize eighth edition of ‘Power Summit-2023’ with slogan Broodening Green Energy Markets in Kathmandu.The two-day summit scheduled for April 18 and 19 will be the largest event in energy sector, according to IPPAN. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investment Board Nepal will co-sponsor the programme with the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation as patron. <br /> The organizers claim that the power summit will prove to be a cornerstone in the expansion of Nepal’s energy market. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">South Asia Forum on Energy Investments will make public report regarding collection of investment in South Asia in the summit(SAFEI). </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A memorandum of understanding will be signed for the direct electricity purchase between Nepal’s hydropower projects and Indian buyers. Various agreements and understandings will be signed for the development and market expansion of renewable energy. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to IPPAN, 15 different sessions will be conducted on various topics including Nepal’s electricity market, transmission infrastructures, demand of hydroelectricity, technology and innovation, solar hydrogen, regulatory agencies, sustainable development in the summit. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">In the programme, Investment Board Nepal and private power producers will exhibit hydropower projects of 5,000 megawatts. <br /> Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will inaugurate the power summit, which will see participation of more than 300 foreign representatives from over 30 countries. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Similarly, high-ranking officials of the Nepal government, electricity trading companies, electricity producers, banks and financial institutions, transmission and distribution companies, think tanks, and other stakeholders of the energy sector will also take part in the power summit. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-06', 'modified' => '2023-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17202', 'image' => '20230406063428_collage (62).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-06 06:29:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17466', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Digging Work of Nagdhunga Tunnel Halted for 20 Days ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Works related to digging of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Project in Kathmandu has been halted for 20 days after digging devices got damaged. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: Works related to digging of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Project in Kathmandu has been halted for 20 days after digging devices got damaged. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nagdhunga Tunnel Project shared that earlier they used to dig 3 to 4 metres on an average in a day but the digging has come to a grinding halt for 20 days owing to damages incurred in the machines used to dig the tunnel, shared Project Chief Nabin Man Shrestha. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha added that although other works under the project are ongoing, the progress on the part of tunnel digging has been slow. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The soil in the digging site was substandard and machines are getting damaged frequently," he said, adding, "The kind of rocks being unearthed while digging was different from the survey.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first tunnel way in the country measures 2.7 kilometres in length and has two lanes. The foundation stone of the project was laid in October, 2019 and the physical progress stands at 50.15 per cent so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha further said that talks with the construction company Hazama Ando Corporation is ongoing to resolve the problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Japanese construction company is reeling under human resources crunch and is lacking adequate machines at present, it has been learnt. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tunnel is being constructed with loan assistance from the Government of Japan and is expected to reduce the time to cross the Nagdhunga Pass to one-third of the current time and make transportation of people safe and efficient. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, delays in addressing the compensation issues related to land acquisition has been further pushing the deadline of the project ought to be completed within 42 months from the start of the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Workers falling sick, unavailability of machines and tools and other hurdles during COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the construction process in between. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17201', 'image' => '20230405065239_nagdhungatunnel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 18:51:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17465', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investors in Wait and Watch Mood; Turnover Amount Contracts to 81.60 crores ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'After four days’ consecutive fall, the NNEPSE index gained 8.39 points and settled at 1875.07 on Wednesday. NEPSE posted a rise of 0.45 per cent today against the loss of 5.20 points yesterday.', 'content' => '<p>April 5: After four days’ consecutive fall, the NEPSE index gained 8.39 points and settled at 1875.07 on Wednesday. NEPSE posted a rise of 0.45 per cent today against the loss of 5.20 points yesterday.</p> <p>Though the one and only equity market closed with marginal gain, turnover amount has not gone up. Owing to the lack of confidence, investors have not increased their investment. Since investors are in wait and watch mood, they have not injected fresh cash to the market. </p> <p>As many as 262 scrips traded hands via 21,504 transactions. A total of 2,602,956 shares exchanged hands with the total transaction amount standing at Rs. 81.6 crores . This is lower than the last trading day's turnover of Rs. 91.76 crores.</p> <p>Shivam Cement Limited (SHIVM) shares traded the most and had the highest turnover of Rs. 6.43 crores closing at a market price of Rs. 409 per share.<br /> Likewise, Kalinchowk Darshan Limited (KDL) gained the highest 9.97% and technically hit the positive circuit for the day.</p> <p>Conversely, Citizens Mutual Fund -1 (CMF1) lost the highest 7.14% today.<br /> Out of all traded sub-indices, only three closed in the red zone. "Hotel and Tourism" gained the highest 0.52%, while "Non-Life Insurance" lost the highest 1.04% today.<br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17200', 'image' => '20230405060011_collage - 2023-04-05T175817.116.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 17:55:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17464', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Development Partners urge Finance Minister for Effective Implementation of Projects ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Representatives of Nepal's two major development partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have called on Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and discussed relevant issues. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: Representatives of Nepal's two major development partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have called on Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and discussed relevant issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The WB delegation met with the Minister on Tuesday and the ADB team on Wednesday morning. During the meetings, the development partners urged the minister to take initiatives for the effective implementation of various projects and programmes funded in Nepal by them. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Following a discussion with ADB country director for Nepal Arnaud Cauchois' team on Wednesday morning, Finance Minister Mahat said Nepal's development partners are excited to further invest in Nepal and their concern was that their funds could not be spent on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In addition to this, they were concerned about the delay in the implementation of the projects in absence of timely site clearance, delay in bidding process and the lack of expected progress. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">New development projects and programmes were also discussed. Finance Minister Mahat said that the development partners expressed their interest to assist in Nepal's various sectors. The ADB expressed its concern over the Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project while the WB was concerned about the Arun Hydropower Project. Moreover, they expressed their interests in the budgetary assistance for road projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the separate meetings, the finance minister is said to have apprised the delegations that grants and soft loans were the priorities of Nepal, and the responses were positive. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17199', 'image' => '20230405055012_Fs8OQ8fXwAEn8y-.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 17:49:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17463', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sikta's Corruption Case Lands in Supreme Court', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: An appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court to acquit 21 people, including the head of Kalika Construction, Bikram Pandey, who were accused of corruption in the Sikta Irrigation Project, one of the national pride projects under construction in Banke.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: An appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court to acquit 21 people, including the head of Kalika Construction, Bikram Pandey, who were accused of corruption in the Sikta Irrigation Project, one of the national pride projects under construction in Banke.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Tuesday appealed to the Supreme Court against the decision of the Special Court. After spending almost Rs 15.5 billion the in the project, the main canal of Sikta collapsed during the testing phase prompting the authority to file a case against Pandey and 20 others who were assigned various responsibilities. However, the special court acquitted the accused on the ground that the original canal had collapsed due to poor structure of the soil.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a legal provision that the contractor company has to bear the responsiblity for all the repairs and maintenance if there is damage to any project within one year of the completion of the construction work. However, the project leaders at that time did not repair the original canal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shortly before the federal election, Pandey was allowed to become a candidate after being acquitted by the Special Court. He also became a minister in the government that was formed immediately after winning the election. The authority has claimed Rs 8.59 billion from all the accused including Rs 2.13 billion from Pandey. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CIAA has filed cases against Saroj Chandra Pandit, director general of the Irrigation Department, project managers Sarvadev Prasad and Ramesh Basnet, senior divisional engineer of the project, managing director of Kalika Construction among others.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17198', 'image' => '20230405021234_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 14:11:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17462', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs, Local Units to Provide Mapping Service of Survey Department', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The Survey Department has started giving Login user IDs to banks and financial institutions and local level for works related to mapping.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 5: The Survey Department has started giving Login user IDs to banks and financial institutions and local level for works related to mapping.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) can use the department’s map for banking work, while the local level can also give the map to the general public, says Janak Raj Joshi, director general of the Survey Department.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For this, the department had written a letter to Nepal Rastra Bank, the regulator of banks and financial institutions, last August and requested for making arrangements for the banks to provide this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This service has been subscribed by Nabil Bank Limited and NIC Asia Bank. The Survey Department’s Director and Information Officer Damodar Dhakal said that one and a half dozen other banks have approached the department to avail this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Before this, any bank and financial institution had to go to the surveyor's office to get a map trace, but now the banks can look at the map themselves for banking operations such as keeping collateral," said Dahal, adding, “Banks have requested for separate user IDs for different branches. We are discussing about issuing one ID for one bank. For this, the department wants to give it to the central body of every financial institution for use within its network.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that giving user IDs to all local levels and banks, the department might have problems in management. The department is using Subisu and Worldlink networks on lease for fiber connectivity of the server.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The department plans to start this service with the commercial banks and gradually expand it to the financial institutions of 'A', 'B' and 'C' category as well as cooperatives.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Land Management and Records Department has already granted permission to banks and financial institutions for the purpose of releasing or withholding land transactions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Balram Kafle, the computer officer of the Land Management Department, said that about </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">300</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> withholdings/releases have already been done by the banks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to him, login user IDs have been taken by all banks. Apart from category B and C, some cooperatives have also taken the permission for this service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17197', 'image' => '20230405014822_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 13:47:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17461', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price sets Another Record, Climbs to Rs 111,000 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The price of gold price has set a new record again. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 5: The price of gold price has set a new record again. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the price of gold has increased by Rs 2,000 per tola (11.66 grams) to reach an all-time high of Rs 111,000 per tola. This is the maximum price of gold ever recorded in Nepal so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prior to this, the highest price of gold was recorded on March 19 at Rs 110,000 per tola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The precious yellow metal was traded at Rs 109,000 on Tuesday, the previous trading day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Mani Ratna Shakya, president of the federation, the price of gold has increased due to the increase in the value of the US dollar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“When the price of the dollar increases, it affects the price of gold. There is no way to say how far it will go, I think it will increase further,” he told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of silver has also increased on Wednesday. According to the federation, the price of silver increased by Rs 40 on Wednesday and is being traded at Rs 1,440 per tola. On the previous day, silver was traded at Rs 1,400 per tola.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17196', 'image' => '20230405123454_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 12:33:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17460', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Growth Faces Slowdown Amidst Domestic and External Challenges', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: Growth in Nepal this year will be slower than previously projected due to the impacts of import restrictions, monetary policy tightening, higher inflation, and shrinking government expenditure, according to the World Bank’s latest report.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 5: Growth in Nepal this year will be slower than previously projected due to the impacts of import restrictions, monetary policy tightening, higher inflation, and shrinking government expenditure, according to the World Bank’s latest report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The latest Nepal Development Update (April 2023): Fine-Tuning Policy in a Turbulent Environment, released by the World Bank on Tuesday, projects Nepal’s economy to grow by 4.1 percent in FY 2022/23, a downward revision from the October 2022 forecast. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the World Bank said growth is expected to accelerate to 4.9 percent in FY 2023/24, supported by the resumption of tourism, growth in remittances, and the gradual easing of monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, risks to the outlook are tilted downside and include higher-than-expected inflation, which will dampen consumption and growth, the possible impacts of likely rotations in government officials, and rising inequality from reduced investments in human capital, especially amongst those yet to recover from unemployment following the pandemic, added the report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Amid measures taken to address pressures on the external sector, the Nepali economy has faced the unintended consequences of slowdown in economic growth and lower fiscal revenue,” the statement quoted Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s country director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This makes the Government‘s Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) agenda even more pressing. These reforms will yield optimal results as the Government communicates its intended policy changes with the public in advance, takes timely action, and fine-tunes policies during the course of implementation,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the report is a companion piece to the latest South Asia Economic Focus, Expanding Opportunities: Toward Inclusive Growth, which projects regional growth to average 5.6 percent in 2023, a slight downward revision from the October 2022 forecast. Regional growth is expected to remain moderate to 5.9 percent in 2024, following an initial post-pandemic recovery of 8.2 percent in 2021.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Inflation in South Asia is set to fall to 8.9 percent this year, and to below 7 percent in 2024. However, weaker currencies and delayed domestic price adjustments are contributing to a slower than anticipated decline in inflation. Elevated global and domestic food prices are contributing to greater food insecurity for South Asia’s poor who spend a larger share of income on food.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“To move from recovery to sustained growth, South Asia needs to ensure economic development is inclusive. The region has among the world’s highest inequality of opportunity. Between 40 and 60 percent of total inequality in South Asia is driven by circumstances out of an individual’s control such as place of birth, family background, caste, ethnicity, and gender,” the report states.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, intergenerational mobility is also among the world’s lowest in this region. Data highlighted in the report shows that less than 9 percent of individuals whose parents have low levels of education reach education levels of the upper 25 percent. Such disparities lead to differences in access to jobs, earnings, consumption, and welfare and to calls for redistributive policies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“South Asia’s stark socioeconomic divides are both unfair and inefficient. They keep talented individuals from contributing to society, reduce incentives to invest in human capital, and derail long-term economic growth,” said Hans Timmer, World Bank’s chief economist for South Asia. “Addressing these structural issues is vital to ensuring the region can achieve its full potential.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The report recommends continuing to improve the quality of primary education and expanding access to secondary and higher education, evaluate and strengthen affirmative action policies targeted to “low opportunity” groups, and policies to improve the business climate for small and medium enterprises, who account for the bulk of job opportunities for the less well-off. In addition, reducing barriers to labor mobility can have a powerful equalizing impact as urban areas tend to offer more opportunities for social mobility.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17195', 'image' => '20230405111303_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 11:12:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17459', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cabinet Scraps Expenditure in the Name of Peace-Related Activities ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The government has decided to cancel the standards for expenditure on peace-related activities, 2078. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma shared that the Council of Ministers on April 3 decided to do away with the standards. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 5: The government has decided to cancel the standards for expenditure on peace-related activities, 2078. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma shared that the Council of Ministers on April 3 decided to do away with the standards. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the government has decided to approve the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer (First Amendment) Regulations, 2079. The cabinet meeting also decided to approve the use of the national forest area on the Narayanghat-Butwal road section under the East-West Highway. Similarly, it has been decided to allow the national forest area to be used for the construction of the Jogmai Cascade Hydroelectric Project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Council of Ministers also approved the Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee (Establishment) Order, 2079 and decided to form the Cabinet Committees (Political Committee, Administration Committee, Bill Committee, Social Committee and Economic Infrastructure Committee). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma informed that Bharatpur Hospital and Bheri Hospital will be operated as affiliated hospitals of the National Academy of Medical Sciences. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting of the Council of Ministers also decided to accept about Rs 550 million from the World Environment Facility for the sustainable management of forests, land and biological diversity in the eastern hills of Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has also decided to direct the District Disaster Management Committee Sindhupalchok to provide cash relief to the victims of Jure Landslide. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17194', 'image' => '20230405105332_KB_KTM-IMG_9898.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 10:52:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17457', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Airline Companies Slash Airfare ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' Following the decision of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation(NOC) to lower the price of aviation fuel for domestic market by Rs 10 per liter, the airlines companies have also slashed the prices of air tickets effective from Wednesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px">April 5: Following the decision of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation(NOC) to lower the price of aviation fuel for domestic market by Rs 10 per liter, the airlines companies have also slashed the prices of air tickets effective from Wednesday. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">According to the Airline Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN), the price of an air ticket from Kathmandu to Dhangadhi has decreased by Rs 440. An air ticket from Kathmandu to Dhangadhi now costs Rs 7,070. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Earlier, the airfare was Rs 7,510 per ticket. Similarly, the new airfare for mountain flight is Rs 5,490. A total of Rs 345 has been reduced in the airfare for the flight that is operated from Kathmandu. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Likewise, airfare for Kathmandu- Bhadrapur has decreased by Rs 300, Kathmandu-Biratnagar by Rs 240, and Kathmandu to Janakpur by Rs 130.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The price of air ticket from Kathmandu to Pokhara has reduced by Rs 155, Kathmandu to Bharatpur by Rs 110, Kathmandu to Bhairahawa by Rs 205, Kathmandu to Nepalgunj by Rs 185 and Kathmandu to Surkhet by Rs 345 respectively. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-05', 'modified' => '2023-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17192', 'image' => '20230405062417_collage (59).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-05 06:21:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17456', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Donald Trump Turns himself in to Face ‘Historic’ Criminal Charges', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Former US president Donald Trump turned himself in Tuesday for a historic New York court hearing held amid tight security and a global media frenzy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">AGENCIES</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 4: Former US president Donald Trump turned himself in Tuesday for a historic New York court hearing held amid tight security and a global media frenzy. According to AFP, the Republican billionaire became the first American president in history to face criminal charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The hearing marks a watershed moment for the US criminal and political system, with the potential to upend the 2024 White House race in which Trump is currently the presumptive Republican nominee, added the news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The 76-year-old is expected to plead not guilty to a host of charges related to hush money paid to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election that brought him to power, AFP further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the BBC reported that Trump was under arrest after arriving at court. Further details were not available by the time this news was prepared.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17191', 'image' => '20230404113728_NINTCHDBPICT000591662998.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 23:36:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17455', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA takes Steps to be Majority Shareholder of Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned body responsible for producing and distributing electricity, has taken steps to own majority shares of the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project. ', 'content' => '<h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">April 4: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned body responsible for producing and distributing electricity, has taken steps to own majority shares of the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">Having faced many ups and downs since its feasibility study was conducted in 1983/84, the 1200 megawatts national pride project has now almost stalled due to various reasons.</span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">However, the government has decided to give a new lease of life to the project with the establishment of the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Public Limited lately. The establishment of the public limited company has ended uncertainties and issues over the financial and operational modalities of the estimated Rs 331 billion project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">To deal with the issue, a taskforce has been formed under the coordination of the NEA's deputy executive director Pradip Kumar Thike. The share structures will be changed acting on the report given by the taskforce, he said. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">It may be noted that earlier Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had directed the forwarding of the project. So, the share structures of the project would be changed, said Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, who is also a member of the NEA Board of Directors. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">A feasibility study of the project, located in Dhading and Gorkha districts, took place in 1983/84. The NEA carried out another study in 2010. It again conducted a feasibility study, and prepared a detailed design and a bidding document before reaching an agreement with a French company. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">For developing the project, the government led by Dr Baburam Bhattarai had formed a committee to which the French company submitted the detailed project report later in 2014. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">Later in 2017, the ministry and the Chinese company, Gezhouba Group, signed a memorandum of understanding to proceed ahead with the project. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">The same year, the government decided to develop the project with domestic investments acting on the report submitted by the National Planning Commission. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">However, again in 2018, then the government led by KP Sharma Oli decided to hand the project to the Gezhouba Group. After the Group lost its contract, the government in 2022 took back the project, and established the Budhi Gandaki hydropower public limited. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">In line with the existing procedures, the authorized capital of the public company will be worth Rs 20 billion, and the issued capital Rs 20 billion. </span></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light","sans-serif"">As per the existing structures, of the remaining shares of the share issued to the public, the Energy Ministry will have 50 percent stakes, the Finance Ministry 30 percent and the NEA 20 percent. -- RSS</span></span></h4> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17190', 'image' => '20230404070230_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 19:01:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17454', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Index Continues to Tumble; So Does Turnover Amount ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index dropped 5.20 points to close at 1,866.68 on Tuesday. Tuesday’s NEPSE index point is the lowest of the past 66 days.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">April 4: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index dropped 5.20 points to close at 1,866.68 on Tuesday. Tuesday’s NEPSE index point is the lowest of the past 66 days.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">As many as 264 companies listed on the NEPS were traded via 23,170 transactions. A total of 2,971,947 shares exchanged hands amounting to Rs. 91.76 Crores in turnover amount. This is lower than the last trading day's turnover of Rs. 92.02 Crores.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Of the total scrips traded, the prices of 86 companies went up while the prices of 116 companies tumbled. Shivam Cements Limited (SHIVM) reported the highest turnover of Rs. 3.36 crores with a closing price at Rs. 410 per share. The shares of KBLPO traded the most.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Kalinchowk Darshan Limited (KDL) gained the highest 9.98% and technically hit the positive circuit for the day.<br /> Conversely, 8.5% Prabhu Bank Debenture 2087 (PBLD87) lost the highest 9.29% today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Out of 13 sub-indices traded on Tuesday, seven sub-indexes closed in the green zone. “Development Bank" gained the highest 0.31%, while "Non-Life Insurance" lost the highest 1.39% on Tuesday.</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-04', 'modified' => '2023-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17189', 'image' => '20230404051611_collage - 2023-04-04T171501.203.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-04 17:11:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
