All major Nepali and English newspapers published from Kathmandu on Friday have given priority to contemporary political issues including the CPN-Maoist Centre’s decision to quit the government. Kantipur has given the topmost priority to infection of viral fever in various villages of remote Jajarkot district in Karnali region of mid-western Nepal.
Other contemporary socio-cultural and economic stories have also received significant attention in the front page of Kathmandu newspapers today.
Important
Govt likely to appoint province chiefs today
Rajdhani informs that the government is preparing to appoint province chiefs today. The President will appoint the chiefs upon the recommendation from the Cabinet as her representatives to each of the provinces and the Cabinet meeting has been called for the same, according to the report.
The Himalayan Times also reports the same quoting Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar. The report, however, maintains that provincial capitals will not be named now as the government is still holding consultations with major parties over the issue.
However, Naya Patrika claims the government may not appoint provincial chiefs today as well because Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is still holding consultations with major political parties. Though the Cabinet meeting has been called for today and it is widely expected to appoint province chiefs, the report quotes PM Deuba’s personal secretary Bhanu Deuba to say that the meeting will discuss regular agendas only. He claims the next Cabinet meeting will appoint province chiefs and fix temporary provincial capitals.
Meanwhile, the newspaper also lists four problems that are likely to emerge for the want of provincial chiefs. They include obstruction in announcement of House of Representatives elections, delay in National Assembly polls, obstruction in oath of provincial assembly members and delay in provincial government formation.
Ignored
Six convicted of leaking MBBS questions
The Special Court convicted six persons of leaking question papers during an MBBS entrance examination conducted by the Ministry of Education around three years ago, according to The Kathmandu Post. The Court, however, acquitted two of the crime.
Earlier, in 2014, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had filed the corruption case against them after arresting them with a 10-page test paper for Biology exam, from Goldengate International College of Battisputali.
Bankers largely ignore credit crunch
The anchor story of The Himalayan Times says commercial banks in the country seem to have largely ignored the credit crunch situation of the last fiscal year as credit expansion of the banks is almost double the deposit collection in the first five months of the current fiscal year.
Quoting Nepal Bankers’ Association, the report says A class financial institutions disbursed loans worth Rs 156 billion from mid-July to mid-December whereas the amount of deposit collection is just Rs 88 billion. It means the average credit to core capital plus deposit ratio is around 78.24 per cent.
West Seti project pushed into limbo
The China Three Gorges International (CTGI) has recently sent a letter to the government saying there is no meaning in sending the plan for West Seti Hydropower Project, pushing the ambitious project to limbo, according to Annapurna Post. Earlier, it was agreed that the 750-megawatt project would be built with a joint investment of the Chinese company and Nepal’s government-run Nepal Electricity Authority.
In October last year, the Investment Board of Nepal had urged the Chinese firm to send it with a plan with a timeline as soon as possible. However, the Three Gorges replied two weeks ago that it does not want to send the plan.
It has been learned that the company has accused the Nepal government of failing to make concrete decisions on two of its key concerns: the purchase rate currently fixed for reservoir-based projects and capitalisation of its expenses.
Interesting
Ambitious Power Investment Summit in January last week
With an ambitious target of generating investment for production of 40,000 megawatt hydropower in next 10 years, a Power Investment Summit is going to be held in the last week of January, according to Karobar.
The Summit to be hosted by the Energy Development Council will take place in Kathmandu from January 27 to 29.
Around 500 companies from across the world will participate at the event.
