News of Nepal Investment Summit has been given utmost importance in all major newspapers on Thursday. CPN cadres being arrested by police in order to stop them from affecting the summit has also been featured in some newspapers along with news of Netra Bikram Chand’s decision to withdraw the nationwide strike on Saturday.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from the cover pages of national broadsheets:
Important
Investment Summit: Govt hoping to bring in $30 billion
Kantipur reports that the much-hyped Investment Summit hopes to woo investors by presenting $30 billion worth of potential projects to plug the country’s infrastructure funding gap. Most of the foreign investors, who have confirmed their participation in the capitalist jamboree, are from Nepal’s immediate neighbours China and India. Among the 600 foreign delegates and investors from 40 countries, 265 are from China (225 from the mainland) and 120 from India.
The government has announced that it would finalise all the projects that are selected by the investors by May. The Nepal Investment Summit is part of the effort to address what the government says is a funding gap in transport, energy, industry, agriculture, and health and education infrastructure over the next decade.
Similarly, Nagarik reports that the Home Ministry to ensure nothing goes wrong is planning to deploy over 6,000 security personnel during the two-day summit. PM KP Sharma Oli will inaugurate the summit on Friday.
Chand-led outfit withdraws Saturday strike
The Himalayan Times reports that the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal, which had announced a general strike on Saturday, called it off keeping in mind the Secondary Education Examination and Nepal Bar Association elections scheduled on that day.
The CPN issued a press release stating that it decided to call off the planned strike as Office of the Controller of Examination, Sanothimi, requested it to not create an obstacle in Secondary School Examination. The outfit added that it was withdrawing its general strike as Nepal Bar Association, which was scheduled to elect its office bearers on Saturday, also requested it to call off its protest.
Senior CPN (Chand) leaders underground
Republica reports that police think that the central leaders of the outfit have gone completely underground after the Prime Minister had set up a deadline to nab them by mid-April.
On Tuesday, police arrested 21 cadres and leaders of the banned Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) in what has been described as a nationwide operation to arrest the central leaders of the outfit. However, all the 21 arrested on Tuesday were junior leaders of the outfit– up to the rank of ‘district in-charges’.
Sources within the outfit have confirmed that their leaders have indeed gone underground after being targeted by security agencies.
Ignored
CIAA calls five international firms involved in supplying Airbus jets to Nepal
The Kathmandu Post reports that the CIAA has summoned officials of five international firms that were involved in supplying two wide-bodies Airbus A330 jets to Nepal Airlines Corporation last year.
After the jet purchase deal ran into controversy, a corruption case was filed at the anti-graft agency.
In January, the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee had concluded that the procurement of the two wide-body aircraft by Nepal Airlines had caused a loss of Rs 4.35 billion to the government.
On Wednesday, the apex constitutional body for corruption control issued a public notice asking the firms—Hi Fly X Ireland Limited, Dublin; AAR International Inc, USA; German Aviation Capital GMBM, Frankfurt; Hi Fly-Transporte Aereos [Hi Fly Airlines], Lisbon, Portugal and Norton Rose Fulbright, Munich, Germany—to appear at the authority office in Tangal within 15 days.
Vaccines out of stock
Annapurna Post reports that the government’s stock of vaccines for Japanese encephalitis and rabies are finishing. Officials say that the vaccines will finish by the next two month. Infants are those likely to be affected by the shortage the most. Officials say that this shortage is due to government carelessness. A tender has been filed three times to bring in medicines, but the government has shown no interest to pass the budget to buy any.
Interesting
Only 12 per cent school rebuilt by contractors
Republica reports that contractors have completed only 12 per cent of the reconstruction work assigned to them at schools affected by the 2015 earthquake in 31 districts. A total of 532 schools were contracted out to them for reconstruction. According to the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MoEST), a total of 7,553 schools in the 31 districts were damaged by the earthquake. The reconstruction of 6,530 schools is ongoing while the government is yet to begin reconstruction of 217 of the schools.
According to the CPIU, nearly four dozen contractors were selected to reconstruct 532 schools in different districts. Out of the 532 schools, the contractors have completed reconstruction of only 64 while reconstruction of 314 others is underway. The Federation of Contractor Associations of Nepal (FCAN), says that the major problem in the reconstruction was the transportation of construction materials.
NCP hosting meetings in hotels and party palaces
Nepal Samacharpatra reports that ruling party citing that their party office is small and narrow are hosting an oath ceremony at a party palace in the capital on Thursday. NCP leaders have said that both its offices are too small to even host the central committee meeting of the party. Even though the unification process started over 11 months ago, the central committee of the party hasn’t held talks until now.
Language expert unavailable
Nepal Samacharpatra reports that Parliament has formed a language unit to translate indigenous languages spoken by its members. However, the secretariat is facing difficulties due to a lack of language experts at its office. The secretariat has suggested a budget to be passed so that the secretariat can hire a language expert to translate these different languages.
