The three-day Ad and Media Expo 2011 jointly organised by Advertising Association of Nepal, Alpabiram Pvt Ltd and Direction Nepal Pvt Ltd concluded on April 30. The expo organised to bring together the advertising and media industry, advertisers, clients, media owners and buyers was visited by 22,800 people. The organisers said the expo will be held next year as well.n

 

 

Eleven New Hotelsfor NTY

In the first four months of Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011, 11 tourist-standard hotels have been added. According to Shambhu Prasad Koirala, the Officer at the Hotel Department of the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) said new hotels were registered in the beginning of the NTY expecting good returns.

 

“As the registration procedure does not require investors to reveal the amount of capital investment, people unwilling to divulge their liquid assets are attracted to invest in the hotels,” said Koirala. Among the newly registered hotels, eight are in Kathmandu and rest three outside of the Valley.

 

 In 2010, 39 new hotels were added among which eight were three-star, two onestar and 29 tourist-standard. A total of 777 hotels have been registered with MoTCA so far. n

 

 

Government Drafting Railway Law

The government is drafting a railway law to provide a legal framework for facilitating the construction of railway lines and operation of railway services. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS), the law is expected to be promulgated in the fiscal year 2011-12. A four-member team led by MoCS Joint Secretary Toya Narayan Gyawali is drafting the law.

 

Matrika Prasad Marasini, a Undersecretary at the Law and Decision Implementation Section said, “In the absence of such a law, the railway services in operation in Janakpur and Birgunj dry port are regulated by Indian Railways. After the law comes into effect, they will be regulated by Nepal Railways.”

 

According to the draft of the law being prepared now, a separate unit under the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management will be set up to coordinate railway issues. The government may also form a railway board under the proposed law.

 

Currently Nepal has railway services operating on 29-kilometres stretch of Janakpur-Jayanagar. Similarly, there is a structure of railway upto Amlekhagunj from Raxaul though the service on this area is available only upto the Birgunj Dry Port from Raxaul.

The Ministry of Physical Planning and Construction has set a target to develop 4,000 kilometres of railway tracks in Nepal in the next 20 years. n

 

 

Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification

Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification Training conducted by Growth Sellers, a human resource company, concluded on May 15. During the two-day programme, Dr R S Chalapathi from the India-based Institute of Sigma Learning trained 35 senior managers from various companies. Six Sigma is a modern management tool that helps to lower cost and increase productivity. n

 

 

CG sponsors RCT

CG Electronics, a wing of Chaudhary Group (CG) will provide Rs 500,000 as sponsorship amount to Ranipokhari Corner Team (RCT) for a year. The two parties signed an agreement to this effect on May 12. For the contract period, RCT players will wear the jerseys during matches bearing the LG Mobile logo. .

 

Ramesh Shrestha, the General Manager of CG Electronics and Bijay Manandhar, the President of RCT signed the agreement. Shrestha said such sponsorships by business houses will help develop professionalism in in Nepali football. Manandhar said the sponsorship has provided a great financial relief to the team, for this year. CG has been sponsoring the education and sports sectors for a few years now. n

 

SPI Acquires Worldlink

NSoftware Paradigms International Group (SPI), an Atlanta-based company providing technology service and financial solutions, has acquired Worldlink Technologies, a Nepali software company. According to a statement issued by Worldlink, the company will now be known as SPI Nepal. The current Worldlink CEO Yajurendra Shrestha will head the new company as well.

 

Established in 2001, Worldlink has been involved in software development related to human resource, e-governance and social security. Apart from domestic customers, the company also works with the government of Orissa, India and a Delhi based company, Invest India Micro Pension Services.

 

SPI entered Nepal after establishing footholds in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. n