As in usual days, major Nepali and English broadsheets published from Kathmandu have given the topmost priority to political updates on their front page today. Issues including delay in unification process between the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Centre, beginning of preparations for the Nepal visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and statements made by Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali after he returned from China have got the biggest space today. Few other contemporary sociocultural and economic issues have also made it to the front page.
Important
Modi’s Nepal visit likely in May
Newspaper reports inform that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planning to pay an official visit to Nepal next month, most provably in the second week of May. Quoting a report in India’s leading daily The Hindustan Times, The Himalayan Times says the visit will last for two days (May 11-12). “Advance teams are already in Kathmandu to take stock of security situations and finalise visit details.”
Kantipur‘s story filed from New Delhi has a different angle to the issue as it claims that India unilaterally and informally announced the date without holding any serious discussion with Nepal. Whereas the process has violated diplomatic balance between two countries, it is further likely to put Nepal into a problem as Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was also planning to go to Chine before Modi would come here. Therefore, the government is confused about next steps, according to the report.
Oli, Dahal to renew part unity commitment ‘despite no progress’
Today is April 22, the day that two biggest communist parties of Nepal were supposed to announce their merger if their initial plan had materialised. However, of late, the two parties have stuck in a host of issues and they have been unable to fix a new date for the announcement.
But still, the two parties are hosting a joint function in Kathmandu today on the occasion of birth anniversary of Lenin and the establishment day of Nepal Communist Party. Kantipur, Rajdhani, Naya Patrika and Annapurna Post inform that CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal will jointly address the meeting in a bid to clear all doubts and suspicions over the unification.
Nagarik says leaders of the two parties are certain about the unification, but they are not sure about the date.
Whereas Gorkhapatra claims the parties have reached quite close to consensus after top leaders held several one-on-one meetings in past few days, Nepal Samacharpatra and The Himalayan Times state there was no progress during the meeting.
Rajdhani says the two leaders will hold another round of one-on-one talk today as well.
Nepal urges China to build railway under grant
Nepal’s Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has said he requested the Chinese government to build a railway line from Tibet to Nepal as grant assistance to Nepal. Gyawali made the statement as he returned home from a week-long China tour, according to reports
Meanwhile, Nagarik comments that there was no progress about building such infrastructures though the two countries have already held rounds of talks about it. However, Gorkhapatra quotes Minister Gyawali to inform that the Chinese side is positive about the proposal. According to Naya Patrika, China agreed to prepare the detailed project report for the project, but did not readily agree to extend investment.
Ignored
Number of vehicles increased 12 times in past 20 years
Naya Patrika lead story for the day says the number of vehicles on Nepali roads has been 12 times it was 20 years ago. During this period, the total length of all roads in Nepal has increased fivefold.
According to the government data, the highest number of vehicles has been registered at Bagmati Zonal Transport Office, which has Kathmandu also as a jurisdiction, whereas the lowest number is in Karnali. There are around 3 million vehicles in total, of them 2.4 million are two-wheelers including motorcycles and scooters.
Melamchi project unlikely to meet Dashain deadline
Nepal Samacharpatra and Annapurna Post report that the much-awaited Melamchi Water Supply Project is most likely to miss its deadline of upcoming Dashain (October) to take water from the Sindhupalchok river to Kathmandu. Annapurna Post says the contractors have halted works demanding advance payments whereas Nepal Samacharpatra says the project is also suffering from shortage of construction materials.
Interesting
Nepal aims at doubling energy capacity by 2030
The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation have drafted a new National Energy Efficiency Strategy, according to which the government will plan to increase the country’s energy capacity twofold in next 12 years, according to Karobar.
The Ministry is currently collecting feedback from stakeholders and members of the public over the strategy, the report informs quoting the Ministry’s spokesperson Dinesh Ghimire.
