Economy

Rural Energy, Education, And Health Care For All

admin — 2014-03-21T11:51:54Z

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Some INGOs and NGOs advocate rural energy for all so that the rural people could have light to read and write; so rural people should have energy first. The government of Nepal has decided not to deliver the services to the parents that did not send their offspring to schools. Others said that the rural people should have health care first so that they could be healthy and work properly.

Propagators of rural energy have been saying that rural people should have energy first, as they could not do their businesses much without energy, and they could not read and write at night. So, energy should be the first priority for the rural people. I don’t know whether the rural people have received such message or not.

As far as I known the priority of the rural people was the jobs or a piece of land for livelihood. They did not care about the energy, education for their children, and even the health care for them. They wanted to have two square meals a day so that they could live comfortably.

The rural people experienced that they had put a lot of labor in building rural hydropower plants but they could not get uninterrupted power supply for a year or even for months, as they had problems of running hydropower plants smoothly. The wear and tear of some mechanical parts of their hydropower plants no matter how small they were caused problems, as the spare parts were need to be replaced.

Another problem was the hydropower stations were in the remote areas that had aggravated the problem of spare parts. When something went wrong to the mechanical parts of hydropower plants, people needed to travel for several days before reaching the areas where they could get the spare parts. Then, they needed several days to return back. If the problem was serous one and they could not fix it then they needed to bring a mechanics. Such problems increased as the hydropower plants grew older and older. In these circumstances, the propagators of rural energy needed to answer how many days a year rural people had enjoyed the energy from the hydropower plants they built so laboriously.

Rural poor and rich put the same amount of labor to build community hydropower plants in the rural areas but the poor could not enjoy the energy as much as the rich did. Each household had to send the same number of laborers to build hydropower plants. However, the rural have-nots could not subscribe the energy as much as they would need, as the subscription rates were so high. Some of the rural hydropower plants charged as much as Rs 15 per bulb of 40 watts per month. In some areas, using kerosene came cheaper to the rural have-nots. So, the rural hydropower plants had given benefits to the rural rich. In some cases, rural poor simply could not afford to have the energy from the hydropower plants they built. So, not all the rural people enjoyed the hydro energy.

The conclusion was that most of the hydropower plants built by the rural communities could not last long, as they had the problems of replacing mechanical parts of the hydropower plants. Then, the poor rural people continued to live in darkness. So, energy for all and energy first had remained in the slogan during the last 30 years. It would continue to be in the future, as the micro hydropower plants were easy to build but difficult to maintain for the rural people.

Most probably, the solar energy might be viable for the rural people but solar panels were very expensive so far. Rural people could not afford such high tech energy at such high costs. INGOs and NGOs did not talk much about it. They knew solar panels were expensive. So, they kept the solar energy option away from their agenda. However, the government of Nepal had been considering providing the people with subsidy on solar panels. Even the State subsidy would not make rural people able to buy the high tech solar panels.

Concerning the education for all, the government of Nepal had made a decision on providing education for all, and the government had even made a decision on punishing the parents failing in sending their children to schools. It sounds nice. Is not it? Everybody wanted education for all. However, let us see whether it would be possible to do so or the government that had been unable to provide even textbooks on time once a year was simply making a decision on education for all.

The government statistics indicated that 95.5 percent of the school-going age children registered at the primary schools but the statistics did not say how many of them remained in the schools for how long. Majority of the children registered at the primary schools in the remote rural areas dropout even at the first grade. Only some children continued to go to schools up to the fifth grade. Only a very few students reached the eighth grade according to the experts in education.

Why the children did not attend the schools? Most of the parents did not have any motivation to send their children to schools, as they did not see any benefits of the education their children would receive in the rural areas. In addition, they needed helping hands in the farms, and at home, too.

In the remote areas, schools were far away from the homes of school-going children. They had to walk miles and miles for hours and hours reaching schools, and then back home. When the students reached higher grades, they needed to walk longer and longer distances, as the middle and secondary schools were far away from their homes. So, most of the students completing the primary schools were forced to drop out because of the non-availability of middle schools at the reasonable distance for them to walk to schools.

The fashion had been that most of the teachers were the members of one political party or another or members of the sister organizations of the political parties. Teachers attended the political conventions, rallies, protest programs and so on. They did not have much time to teach at schools. However, they collected salaries and other benefits they were entitled to. Why the students should go to schools when there was nobody to teach them.

In all these circumstances, the government making a decision on not delivering services to the parents not sending their progeny to schools was not a ‘joke’? Not delivering services to the people, the government was violating the fundamental human rights.

The government was not serious making decisions. Staffs at the Ministry of Education knew that parents could not send their children to schools in the remote areas, as there were no schools for the parents to send their children. The irony was that the government had made a decision on forcing the parents to send their children to schools even though there were no adequate schools in the rural areas of Nepal. In such a case, the government had been liable to punishment for not building adequate schools rather than the poor rural people for not sending their children to the non-existence schools.

‘Health care for all’ was the good slogan but how far the government or the private companies had been able to provide the rural people with health care. An access to the health service centers had been very difficult to the rural poor. Rural people walked to the health post or health center for health services but the door of health post and center were closed for unknown reasons. They had walked for hours and hours to reach the health service delivery centers only to find the health service centers not functioning.

Even though, doors of health service delivery centers were opened, service seekers would find necessary medicine was not available, and the health assistant that was supposed to be there for 24 hours a day, was missing. Consequently, rural people had to go to the traditional healers called ‘dhami jankris’.

Rural health service delivery centers were supposed to provide the rural people with maternity and child health care, too. As the door of such service centers remained closed, rural poor had no choice but to have many children at least to have some of them alive. The result was the high fertility rate and the fast population growth.

Most probably, remedy to all these ills might be the urbanization. Rural households were scattered at considerable distances. Possibility of building power stations, schools and even health service delivery centers to reach the scattered rural poor, was remote or the government had to pay considerable high prices for building such infrastructures. Private companies would not go to such areas, as they could not make money there. So, we needed to build towns for the people, where the government could deliver services at fewer costs. Private companies and people could provide each other with required services in towns at considerable fewer costs, too. These towns also create a lot of jobs for the rural poor and others.

March 14, 2014

Success Of Micro-hydro Projects In Nepal

admin — 2011-10-22T09:23:39Z

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Success of any project no matter how big or small entirely depends on how serious you are in conceiving, studying and ultimately implementing it. If you miss to do seriously anyone of these activities you are bound to face many problems and even might face the failure of projects. So, we need to keep in mind that we must be serious about the basics of project implementation if we are to succeed in our mission.

It was in the APROSC (Agriculture Project Service Center) hall in Kathmandu in early 1980s I was attending a seminar. A short man: a member of National Planning Commission (NPC) was speaking about the development projects the then government was implementing. At that time, I was not very familiar with this gentleman. When he opened his lecture to the questions and answers, I raised my hands and said, “You have so many projects how could you manage to make the feasibility studies on all those projects?”

The NPC member counter asked, “Where are you?” Then he answered his question, “You are in Nepal; you cannot do anything if you study all those projects in detail.”

I was really embarrassed by his question and answers. A gentleman sitting next to me said, “He has done a doctorate in economics at one of the prestigious universities in the USA. He should know the importance of feasibility studies of development projects.” Only then, I understood he was a member of the NPC: a state agency responsible for planning and monitoring of development projects in Nepal. Obviously, with the green signal from such a responsible agency as the NPC, the then government agencies had been implementing numerous micro projects without doing any studies on them in other words haphazardly.

The results were numerous projects technically, economically and financially failed. One of such failed projects was the Salleri-Jhalsa 40 KW hydropower project built with the financial and technical assistance of the SATA (Swiss Association For Technical Assistance).

At that time, I had just joined the SATA as a program officer. So, one of my responsibilities was to help the project leaders in administration and other aspects of the project implementation from the SATA office at Ekantakuna in Kathmandu and go to the field as and when required.

The Salleri-Jhalsa micro-hydropower project had been lying idle for a few years already. The project management had extended the power lines to the villages hoping that they would be able to produce electricity soon. A helicopter had flown turbine to Salleri: district headquarters of Solukhumbhu District but it had been lying idle, too. So, there had been everything a micro hydropower needed except for the canal that would take water to run the turbine. Unfortunately, the huge landslide had buried the canal without any traces.

The problem had been the canal that they had built, caused landslides. The project management and other technical staffs did not take the digging of a canal was a serious matter and it might cause landslide if they did not do it properly. They simply hired laborers and let them dig a canal at the foot of the hill. Certainly, the hill could not hold its body on the cut feet and let the body slip causing a massive landslide that had destroyed the possibility of producing electricity from the water at that site.

The project management had neither the finance nor the technical skill in coping with such landslides. So, they could neither correct the landslide nor build a canal. Consequently, they could not draw water from the river and run the turbine.

The landslides had caused the scars on the hill. The project management had been more concerned with the landslides than completing the project. Naturally, they could not leave the project area without bringing the hill back to its original shape.

The local people had already started off making jokes on the project. They said, “We have power lines without power, and turbine with power house but without water to run it. We are living with kerosene lamps in the hope of getting electricity.”

A new director replaced the old one at the SATA. He made a helicopter tour to the failed projects: one of them was the Salleri-Jhalsa micro-hydropower project. He saw the landslides, power lines, a rusting turbine and many electrical appliances at the project site. Most probably, he had already made up his mind what to do next at the site but he called a meeting of the project leader and tried to understand what needed to be done not only to resolve the problems of landslides but also of building a micro-hydropower project.

The project was initially conceived for supplying power to the Tibetan refugees’ camps at Jhalsa, Salleri and to some neighboring villages. So, the project was of the 40 KW. Everybody as the member of the NPC in question had thought, “We are in Nepal, we could finish the tiny project without doing any feasibility study on it.” They built power lines, took a turbine to the site, built a power house but not digging a canal to bring the water from the river to the power house to run the turbine. When they started off digging the feet of the hill to make a canal for taking water to the turbine, the hill could not stand on its feet, as they were cut and let the body slip causing a large scar on its body. Then, the project management lost its mind and kept the project as it was.

For the SATA, it had been a prestige issue. It could not leave the project without correcting the scar made on the hill even though it could forget about providing the Tibetan refugees with power. So, the main concern had been for stopping any damages done to the hill and to the reputation of the SATA, too.

As one of the attendees of the meeting called by the director of the SATA to discuss how to stop further damage to the hill in the coming monsoon when the country will have rains for three months, disregarding the rebuke I had from the member of the NPC at the APROSC hall, I raised my hand and said, “We need to do a feasibility study on it”. Nobody said anything but everybody looked at each other. I anticipated somebody would rebuke me for asking such a big thing for such a tiny project.

Even though nobody had agreed or disagreed on doing a feasibility study on such a tiny project, I learned after a few days, the director had agreed to conduct a feasibility study on this project. The feasibility study would cost much more than the cost of the project. However, the director had justified it and convinced the decision makers at the headquarters in Switzerland of its need for the success of the project.

A team of experts came to Nepal. The team visited the project site, studied the catchments of the river from where the project would draw water for running turbines. The team also studied the events of floods during the rainy season called monsoon. Then, the team came up with the plan on resolving the problems of landslides. The team also proposed 400 KW hydropower project rather than a 40 KW previously thought to be built without a feasibility study.

You could imagine how large the hydropower project could be after the feasibility study on a meager 40 KW project. SATA had the money and skills to build such a project but the concern was whether so much of power could be properly utilized there. Again, we needed to do a quick survey on the possibility of power consummation within the areas of the influence of the power plant.

Then, the problem was the sale of power to the local people. It did not mean that SATA wanted the return on the investment it would make in the hydropower project but the SATA leadership wanted to see the power plant would run on its own without the need for the external financial support. So, we came up with the proposal for the Users’ Committee on managing the power plant.

At the same time, designers came up with the design of preventing the landslides, and of the power plant. Two 200 KW turbines would generate 400 KW power. A solid cement-made canal would bring the water to the turbine. The canal even could support the foothill.

The director of the SATA convinced the decision makers at the headquarters in Switzerland of the need for providing the project with the funding to complete the project even though the amount was several times more than previously thought.

The Salleri hydropower project has been one of the success stories of the SATA projects thanks to the feasibility study done on it before implementing it. Two turbines have been generating 400 KW power. District headquarters of the Solukhumbhu District, surrounding villages and the Jhalsa Tibetan refugee camp have been illuminated.

Technology of micro hydropower plants is not so simple as we think it is. We need to follow the technical procedures of building such power plants if we really want to be successful in building such micro hydropower plants.

We need to build micro power plants in hundreds if not in thousands to meet the power need of the growing population living in the hills and the mountains. Two-thirds of the Nepalese lands are the hills and the mountains. Nepalis are scattered all over the hills and the mountains. Providing them with power from the central grid would not be technically impossible but economically and financially might be almost impossible. So, the alternative is to build micro hydropower plants as many as possible.

In order to assist the Nepalese communities in the remote areas in building micro hydropower plants and running them, USAID/Nepal in cooperation with Agricultural Development Bank/Nepal (ADB/N) and Development Consulting Services (DCS) launched a joint program on making available assistance in building micro hydropower plants. Through its ‘Private Rural Electricity Project (PREP), USAID/Nepal provided a grant of 50% of the total capital cost of any micro hydropower plant, the communities mobilized 25% to 40% of the total cost, and ADB/N provided the balance amount in loans taking landownership certificates as collaterals. DCS provided technical services. [Source: Final Evaluation of Private Rural Electrification Project (367-0162) posted on Internet]

Any community wishing to have the joint support of USAID/Nepal, ADB/N and DCS mobilized 25% to 40% of the resources required for building a micro hydropower project. In order to do so, community members set up an electricity company. Any community member buying the share of the company became the member of the Electricity Users’ Committee and entitled to purchase power from the company. Thus, a community mobilized the resources required for a micro hydropower project.

Hydropower plants would free most of the hill and the mountain people from the burden of collecting firewood; this in turn will save the millions of trees that would produce much needed pure air for the humans to breathe in and out for survival. Our hills and mountains would have a chance of remaining green and would contribute to the preservation of the world environment.

The clean energy means electricity will provide the householders to cook their foods with ease. The household environment will be health friendly. Householders will have a less chance of getting eyesores and eye ailments and the lung diseases mostly caused by burning firewood. Students will have a chance of doing homework and studying anything under the bright electric light.

One of the main problems of managing the micro hydropower plants is getting spare plants at the short notice in the remote hill and mountain areas. For example, if a micro hydropower plants is at the Muktinath in the Mustang District, and if something goes wrong to the power plant then you need either a technician or a spare part or both. They are available in the far away town. Even though such a town is only a few hundred kilometers away, you might need to travel for days for reaching such a town.

A company in Butwal of the Lumbini District makes spare parts and provides any technician and spare parts any micro hydropower plant needs.

The guy in Muktinath needs to walk down to Jomson and then wait for a plane to fly to Pokhara and then take a bus to reach Butwal for getting a spare part or a technician or both to fix his micro hydropower plant.. This guy will take at least three days to reach Butwal if not a week in case of delay in getting a plane. His back and forth traveling time between Muktinath and Butwal would be at least six days. In the worst-case scenario, it would be two weeks. You need to add time to make a spare part. Then, he needs to come with a technician to fix the broken spare part.

So, the cost of fixing the broken part in term of time needed to shut down the power plants comes to several weeks if not months. Certainly, the power plant needs to bear the financial cost, too. Regular lives of the people are disrupted due to the power cut. It would cause financial, economical, and social losses.

In order to cope with this time consuming process of getting spare-parts and a technician to fix the broken parts of any micro hydropower plants in the remote areas, some experts had come up with the idea of setting up spare-part-producing centers: one center for catering the need of a few micro hydropower plants around the center.

Another issue of management of micro hydropower plants is the number of staffs it needs to run. Two persons could run any micro hydropower plant in the private sector but the state-run power company had employed almost 20 staffs to run a micro hydropower plant. So, the state-run power company would not be efficient in running any micro hydropower plants.

A number of private companies produce micro turbines and other accessories required for micro hydropower plants but every company has made its own standard of producing equipment and accessories. So, micro hydropower plants need to depend on the same company for getting spare parts from which company they have purchased turbines and other accessories in absence of standardization of all accessories and equipment required by micro hydropower plants.

We cannot provide all the people dwelling in the mountains and the hills with power from the central grid due to the cost it involves; the only alternative to it is micro hydropower plants. So, we need to build a large number of micro hydropower plants to meet the needs of the people living in the hills and the mountains for power.

October 17, 2011

Newly Appointed CEO and NEA

admin — 2011-09-18T10:35:36Z

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Former Minister for Energy has appointed a new CEO to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) following the open competition believing to have the best management brain for running the NEA. However, not even a month has passed since the appointment of the highly paid CEO, the NEA has introduced an 18-hour per week power outage since September 15, 2011. NEA has been a white elephant for the government. It has so great assets even the managers don’t have the idea of the total assets. It also has a huge army of staffs several times more than required for running the power systems in Nepal.

Former Minister for Energy Gokarna Bista has appointed a new CEO to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) at the cost of Rs 250,000 per month before he is about to leave the office, as Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal has been under pressure to vacate the office. The new CEO is supposed to manage the NEA to mitigate the power outage and the loss it has incurred but the situation has been just the opposite.

The CEO has failed in mitigating the power outage. He sees no alternative but to increase the power outage to 18 hours a week even in the monsoon period even when water is abundantly available in the rivers to run the turbines at their maximum capacities. Previously, the power outage has been for such duration only during the dry season when water levels in rivers drop causing to shut down some turbines generating less power.

The irony is that with the highly paid CEO on the management seat, Nepalis have faced the power outage for 18 hours a week even during the rainy season. For this reason alone, the government either needs to fire him or he needs to quit the job on the moral ground but it has not happened so far. The CEO has been harvesting Rs 250,000 salary per month apparently for doing nothing to mitigate the power outage.

The NEA has been green pasture for the unscrupulous politicians to graze on. Former Ministers such as KP Oli and Sher Bahadur Deuba have been using the vehicles belonging to the NEA. They have received even fuel from the NEA for running their vehicles for their private purposes. We don’t know how many other former ministers have been using such vehicles at the cost of the NEA.

Former Minister for Energy Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat has illuminated his home and the neighborhood for 24 hours a day even when other ministers have to rely on inverters to keep the lights on in their official residence. Dr. Mahat also has done a remarkable job of stopping the import of inverters stating these inverters use more power causing additional pressure on the power supply. However, the truth might be different. The prices of medium size inverters have jumped from Rs 30,000 to Rs 90,000. We don’t know how much money Dr. Mahat has made from the decision made on not permitting the import of inverters. Local media has reported that Dr. Mahat has benefited from some other agencies engaged in alternative energy.

The CEO could do a lot of improvement in the management of power transmission lines. Most of the low-voltage power transmission lines feeding the power to towns have been very old. The poles carrying the power lines are very old and slanting to the ground giving the impression that they might fall at any time. The dilapidated power transmission lines cause short circuits and power loss.

If the CEO has been smart enough he would start off improving the dilapidated power lines immediately. NEA has sufficient surplus manpower and resources, too to improve the power transmission lines without additional financial burden on it. However, the CEO has not been able to do so for the reasons unknown to us.

The management has not been able to reduce the power loss that has reached 45 of the power production. The power loss has been not only due to some people have stolen the power but also from not improving the very old power transmission lines.

The NEA management has not been able to effectively use the huge manpower it possesses. It has not been able to use the assets it has. Some staffs hardly work two hours a day but they receive not only the full salaries but also other benefits, too. The NEA management can hire but it cannot fire anybody due to the strong labor unions affiliated to different political parties.

Nobody knows the physical assets the NEA possesses. Nobody knows how many motor vehicles the NEA has, and who have been using them. Many old motor vehicles are lying unused on the premises of the NEA offices across Nepal. Billions of rupees worth of assets have remained unused elsewhere. Most of them are rotting under the sun and the rains. Transformers and other equipment have been lying idle, too.

If billions of rupees worth of equipment and vehicles are not needed to the NEA, then, the CEO could sell them in the public auctions but that has not happened it. Clearing off the unwanted vehicles and equipment, the NEA would be in a better position to evaluate its assets and show the true records of its assets in the books. In view of the current situation of the NEA, the CEO could immediately start auctioning the unused vehicles and equipment. All old vehicles not usable could go immediately; similarly, all the rotten transformers and other equipment also could go. Then, the backyards of the NEA offices will be clean and the record books of all these materials and equipment and vehicles.

Procurement of equipment and vehicles has been controversial. The NEA management has purchased vehicles and equipment at high prices more often than not. Procurement of small items such as computers and other office equipment and stationery have been done more haphazardly than any other items. Probably, this practice has continued even today.

The CEO could stop the haphazard procurement of materials, equipment and vehicles. He should be able to design a system of procurement so that nobody could cheat at the procurement of anything for the NEA. Such action could save the millions if not billions of rupees for the NEA.

Currently, the NEA has the manpower several times more than required. One simple estimate states the NEA has ten times more manpower than it actually needs. Low output of such manpower has been the reason for the NEA not running properly. We can see the army of staffs waiting for a work order. The management sends several staffs when a few of them could do the job.

The centralized management system of the NEA has been one of the main reasons for the NEA has been so inefficient. So, the NEA should decentralize the management of the NEA. Decentralization should make the local managers responsible for procuring the equipment, vehicles and materials and for their efficient uses. They also should be responsible for anybody using the vehicles, equipment and materials for any other purposes other than for the NEA. Certainly, they should be responsible for smooth supply of power to consumers, and for paying an immediate attention to the consumers’ calls for repair and maintenance. Currently, the staffs of the NEA behave more like bureaucrats than service providers.

Similarly, the local managers need to be responsible for the power loss. They should be awarded for plugging the holes that cause the loss of power. Such holes might be either the very old power transmission lines or some people might have stolen the power hooking their wires to the main power transmission line.

Concerning the mitigation of the current power shortage, the CEO could renovate the existing unused thermal power plants and bring them to operation at the time when additional power is needed to meet the demand. The CEO might even consider building a new 200 MW thermal plant to supplement the power even though the cost of production of power would be high to reduce the power outage and let the people run their industries and businesses regularly without breaks due to the power outage.

The CEO needs to be able to work without the influence of the concerned minister. The performances of the CEO needs to be judged by the efficiency of the management of the NEA, availability of power at the lost lowest possible price, efficient use of manpower, equipment, materials and vehicles. Then, only the CO could justify the salary of Rs 250,000 per month he has been receiving.

September 16, 2011

Innovation, Education, And High Speed Infrastructures

admin — 2011-01-29T20:17:23Z

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Innovation, Education, and High Speed Infrastructures are the three things US President Barrack Obama has picked up for the future investment to be made in for steering America to ahead of any merging and emerged countries in the world in the address of the State of the Union delivered on the night of January 25, 2011. He believes that investing in these three main things will not only create highly required job opportunities but also will lead America to the forefront of the world development.

President says, “We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. Investments in innovation, education, and infrastructure will make America a better place to do business and create jobs.”

However, the president cautions that “we never know what kind of innovation will be, what the next big industry will be and what sorts of jobs will be created, as three decades ago, nobody could predict that the Internet would lead to an economic revolution” but one thing is clear that Americans make a living from innovation. However, private companies don’t make investment in the basic research, as they cannot make profits out of such research. Therefore, the US government has provided cutting-edge scientists and inventors with the support that they need to sow the seeds for the Internet, and for making possible computer chips and GPS, President Obama says.

The president says Americans have no idea of how to beat the Soviets that have outpaced the Americans putting a satellite called Sputnik on the orbit of the earth half a century ago but Americans beat them putting man on the moon and surpassed the Soviets after investing in research and education unleashing a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.

So, the president sees the need for working on reaching a level of research and development that haven't been since the height of the Space Race. The president says that he will send a budget to Congress in a few weeks to meet the challenge. The main focus of the investment will be on biomedical research, information technology, and clean energy technology. Investment in the clean energy will strengthen the security, protect the planet, and create countless new jobs for the people. Investment in research and technology should create jobs in America to make it a success but not overseas.

The president says that the US government will not simply hand out money for doing research in the clean energy technology but will support only the best scientists and engineers that will assemble teams of the best minds in their respective fields and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy. The target is to put one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015, and to tap 80% of America's electricity from clean energy sources by 2035.

Concerning the education, the president says that American students have lagged behind many other nations. The technology has changed the kinds of workers needed, and has also reduced the number of workers required. The new generation of jobs will required well educated workers but a quarter of American students aren't even finishing high school. America has fallen to 9th in the proportion of young people with a college degree. So, the president urges the parents to educate their children better, as the responsibility for teaching children is not on the teachers alone but on the parents and communities as well.

For better education, teachers need to work as nation builders as in South Korea. The nation needs to treat them accordingly. During the next ten years, the nation needs 100,000 new teachers in the field of science, technology, engineering, and math. So, the president asks any body watching his speech on TV to become a teacher if s/he wants to make a difference in the life of a child.

Education does not end with the high school diploma but it should be pursued throughout the life if you want to inspire your children for better education, as the future jobs will require better-educated workers, the president says. The president gives the example of a woman at 55 years of age working at a furniture factory pursuing her degree in biotechnology not because she is going out of the job of the factory but because she wants to inspire her children to pursue their dreams too.

The president also makes a case in point the need for keeping the educated people in America. Students come from abroad to study in our colleges and universities in America as soon as they obtain advanced degrees; they go back home to compete against the Americans. So, the president says that America needs to keep these talented, responsible young people who can staff American research labs, start new businesses, and further enrich this nation.

The third thing, the president proposes, is the investment in the high-speed rail to high-speed Internet for attracting new businesses. The Internet access in America has been less than South Korea. Europe and Russia have been investing in roads and railways more than America does. China is building faster trains and newer airports. Meanwhile, America infrastructure has fallen into the grade "D," the president says

The president sets the target of 80% of Americans access to high-speed rail for reducing the travel time by a half of any car takes within 25 years, it will be faster than flying for some trips. The next generation of high-speed wireless will be available to 98% of all Americans within the next five years for doing business elsewhere in the world even staying in the remote areas. A large number of jobs swill be created not only directly but also indirectly by the businesses made possible by these high-speed infrastructures.

“All these investments – in innovation, education, and infrastructure – will make America a better place to do business and create jobs. But to help our companies compete, we also have to knock down barriers that stand in the way of their success,” the president says.

The president says, “To reduce barriers to growth and investment, I've ordered a review of government regulations. When we find rules that put an unnecessary burden on businesses, we will fix them. But I will not hesitate to create or enforce commonsense safeguards to protect the American people. That's what we've done in this country for more than a century. It's why our food is safe to eat, our water is safe to drink, and our air is safe to breathe. It's why we have speed limits and child labor laws. It's why last year; we put in place consumer protections against hidden fees and penalties by credit card companies, and new rules to prevent another financial crisis. And it's why we passed reform that finally prevents the health insurance industry from exploiting patients.”

January 28, 2011

Plese use my email address siddhiranjit@gmail.com for writing to me.

Exploring Minerals In Nepal

admin — 2010-08-21T20:25:38Z

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Mid hills of Nepal is not only fertile for agriculture but also for hosting minerals particularly copper, lead and zinc. All along the mid hills, we can see many ancient workings of cooper and some of lead but not of zinc, as it is usually associated with lead so not visible to our regular eyes. The Government of Nepal approaches the UNDP for exploring copper, lead and zinc in the mid hills of Nepal, and together with the UNDP forms a HMG/UNDP Mineral Exploration Project for exploring copper, lead and zinc in mid 1970s and completes it in mid 1980s. This project is one of the most successful ones in Nepal.

The Government of Nepal forms a Mineral Exploration Development Board for running the HMG/UNDP Mineral Exploration Project independently. The Board has all sorts of authorities for making decisions on running the HMG/UNDP Mineral Exploration Project efficiently and correctly.

The objective of the HMG/UNDP Mineral Exploration Project is for Nepalis to assimilate the technique of geochemical exploration, of analyzing stream sediment and soil samples for detecting elements in parts per millions and billions, and of using photos for geological survey. So, the project has mainly focused on these three subject matters.

UNDP has provided all sorts of logistical supports, high quality experts and vehicles for running the project efficiently. The Government of Nepal has provided office space, the project manager, Nepalese professional counterparts and their salaries. About ten Nepalese geochemists have worked with three expatriate expert geochemists including the expatriate project manager. One Nepalese counterpart geologist is attached to an expert photo-geologist to set up a photo-geological lab and run photo-geological mapping. Two highly qualified Nepalese chemists are also attached to an expatriate expert chemist to set up a chemical lab that can conduct chemical analysis of stream sediment and soil samples brought in thousands.

The project has the joint management of a Nepalese manager and a counterpart expatriate manager. Following the Nepalese government rules and regulations, the Nepalese project manager takes care of the management of making sure that the project has no shortage of materials and manpower the Nepalese side is supposed to provide. Similarly, the expatriate project manager takes care of the UNDP side of logistical management to providing the project with experts for smoothly running the project to achieve its goals and objectives.

The Nepalese professionals have worked with the expatriate professionals in teams. The project has a number of geo-chemists working independently and in a team with the expatriate professionals but the photo-geology has a single team of a Nepalese professional and an expatriate professional, and the entire population of the chemical section has worked with the expatriate chemist as a team to provide the geochemists with the support for chemical analysis of stream sediment and soil samples.

Professionals such as geochemists, photo-geologists and chemists hold their regular independent weekly meetings to discuss their problems and prospective events. They also hold independent regular meetings with the joint project management. Sometimes the joint project management holds a meeting of all professionals whenever the need for such a meeting arises.

Such meetings have become the arena for the close interactions between the Nepalese and expatriate professionals and have contributed to the assimilation of knowledge, skills and techniques of the respective field by the Nepalese professionals from the expatriate expert counterpart professionals. The best transfer of knowledge and skills has occurred while Nepalese and expatriate professionals working together in the field. The mid hills of Nepal have become the laboratory for the Nepalese geochemists to assimilate the knowledge and skills of geo-chemical exploration. Photo-geology lab has become the place for the Nepalese photo-geologist to assimilate the skills in photo-geology. Similarly, the chemical lab has become the place for assimilating skills in chemical analysis of stream sediment and soil samples for Nepalese chemists.

In the photo-geological lab, photo-geologists have worked on thousands of aerial photos acquired from the survey department to prepare geological maps. After completing geological maps studying the photos, they go to the field to check their findings.

Nepalese chemists have worked together with the expatriate professionals on analyzing stream sediment and soil samples to detect mineral contents in parts per millions and billions. Professional chemists have been the first to assimilate knowledge and skills in chemical analysis of stream sediment and soil samples. So, the expatriate expert chemist has departed turning over all the responsibilities for chemical analysis to the Nepalese counterpart professionals after a few years.

The project management has first identified the background content of copper, lead and zinc in stream sediment and soil samples and some rocks of mid hills in Nepal in parts per millions and billions. The project has called them background values mean you will find such contents of minerals in stream sediments, soils and rocks found elsewhere in the mid hills in Nepal.

The project has started the geochemical exploration for copper, lead and zinc with the stream sediment samples. Geochemists collect stream sediment samples and then submit these samples to the chemical lab with the request for analyzing them for copper, lead and zinc. After receiving the chemical analysis of stream sediment samples, the concerned geochemist plots the results on the one-inch equals to one-mile maps for the three minerals in question. Then, each geochemist prepares a report on the findings of his field trip and submits it to the joint project management.

The project management has set six digit numbers for stream sediment samples and for soil samples considering the number of samples the project professionals will collect during the project life. These numbers in blocks are allocated to Nepalese professionals for numbering the samples they collect in the field.

Each geo-chemist has received a block of six-digit numbers for numbering stream sediment samples. He can use only those numbers for the samples he collects in the field. Before going to a field trip, each geochemist serially prints the numbers allocated to him on the number of paper bags of size 2” x 6” required for him to collect samples in one field trip he is assigned to. He traces the streams of the area of his field trip from the one-inch equal to one-mile maps provided by the Survey Department. He makes an ammonia print of the traced-out map and takes the map with him to the field to locate the stream samples on the map.

In the field, the geochemist collects stream sediment samples digging with his hand from each stream he is assigned to collect. He collects one stream sediment sample a few meters above the mouth of each stream so that the waters of the river has not diluted the sediment, and from the middle of the stream so that the sample has equal chance of getting sediments from both sides of its watershed. He puts the sample in the pre-numbered paper bag, and notes the number of the sample on the map. The river becomes the stem of a tree and streams its branches. The geochemist collects stream sediment samples from the branches not the stem.

A technical assistant and non-technical assistants go with each geochemist to the field for helping him. The technical assistant helps him to collect the stream sediment, and non-technical assistants help him to prepare samples and provide him with other support services.

Non-technical assistants dry the stream sample on the sun. Then, they carefully put the samples through 200-mesh sieve. They put back the sieved samples to the respective sample bags. Each sample will be about 200 grams. In such a way they don’t have to bring the unwanted material to the office.

The geochemist is also to record the rock exposure and the geology of the area as much as possible. Such a simple preliminary geological map helps to understand the possible mineralization in the areas.

As soon as the geochemist arrives in the office in Kathmandu, he briefs the joint project management about the field trip in an informal meeting. He submits the samples to the chemical lab for chemical analysis of the samples for copper, lead, and zinc. At the same time, he prepares a map for plotting the chemical results of the samples.

The Chemical lab prepares the reports on the chemical analysis of stream sediment samples in triplicate. It submits the first copy to the joint project management, the second copy to the concerned geochemist and keeps the third copy in the archives of the lab.

The geochemist plots the results of the chemical analysis of the samples for copper, lead, and zinc in three separate maps: one for copper, another for lead and the third for zinc. He draws values higher than the background values with three different thick lines that represent high, mid high and low high.

Thickness of each stream represents the value of the result of chemical analysis of the stream sediment sample the geochemist has collected from it. The project management has classified the results of stream sediments higher than background values into three categories: high, mid high and low high. Following the classification of the chemical analysis results of stream sediment samples, each geochemist draws the streams by different thicknesses of lines proportional to the results. So, each stream is of either of simple line of background value or thick line of high value, or middle thick line of mid value or of low thick of low value. For drawing the quick attention of the project management to the high, mid and low high values, each geochemist colors the high values with red, mid high with yellow and the low high with green. These high values are called anomalies. The project management gives the first priority to the red color streams for the follow-on next geochemical exploration fieldwork.

Following the stream-sediment-sampling process, the project has already located a number of anomalies that are possible mineralization in a large area. The project needs to narrow down the area of each mineralization so that it can reach the mineral deposit. The next follow-on work is the soil sampling on the ridges and spurs from where the streams that have shown the high values of mineral content have drawn the rainwater.

Depending on the size and intensity of anomalies, the project management decides which of the so many anomalies to take up for the follow-on ridge-and-spur soil sampling work. The large anomalies with high intensity of anomalous values get the first attention of the project management. Then, the project management assigns the project geochemists to hold the soil samplings on the first target anomalies.

For soil sampling, geochemists use simple compass, a 30-meter-long nylon rope for measuring the distance between two samples and about a half-meter long crowbar for digging a hole in the ground. As in the case of stream sediment sampling, geochemists take a number of pre-numbered paper sample bags required for the number of soils to be collected in the field.

In the field, a geochemist responsible for holding the soil sampling on the ridge and spurs sets his camp at the middle of the ridge keeping the spurs on both sides at an equidistant. A ridge is the hill range from where spurs branch out on both sides of the hill range.

The geochemist finds a large stone or a tree or something else that does not disappear in the near future, and sets it as a base-point from where he starts sampling the soil on the ridge. He marks it with red paint so that anybody can go back to the area and verify the sample if a need for it arises. He also paints rock exposures and large trees elsewhere found in the sampling area with red paint stating the field date and the soil sampling in the area for the future references.

The geochemist identifies the first place of taking soil sample on the ridge, and calls it a base-point. At this place, a non-technical staff digs a small hole through which a hand can pass in on the ground to a 30-cm deep. Then, he takes the soil sample from the 30-cm deep and puts it in the pre-numbered paper sample bag and seals it. Thereafter, the geochemist stands on the place the soil sample has been taken and holds one end of the 30-meter-long nylon rope and sends the assistant holding another end of the rope to the next place of sampling. He measures the direction of the next position of the soil sampling. The assistant digs a 30-cm deep hole with an iron bar at the new position to take another sample. This soil sampling process continues to the end of the ridge and the same process is followed for the soil sampling on the spurs.

The project management has identified 30 meter as the minimum sample interval on the ridges and spurs to define the anomaly detected by the stream sediment samples. It will give the required number of soil samples to delineate the size of an anomaly. The project calls it still an anomaly, as it is only the surface delineation of a mineralization that becomes a mineral deposit in the later follow-on exploration.

The project management has also set the 30-cm as the maximum depth required for taking soil samples. At this depth, you are sure to reach the in-situ soil. Reaching to this depth, you avoid all the debris and organic materials found on the surfaces of hills.

As in the case of the stream sediment samples, the assistants dries all the soil samples on the sun and then passes them through the 200-mesh sieve and brings those samples to Kathmandu for chemical analysis. He submits the samples to the chemical lab for the chemical analysis for the mineral the follow-on soil sampling has been done.

The geochemist briefs the joint project management on the field trip. He reports on the problems and prospects of the anomaly, and the preliminary geology of the area including the physical features.

The geochemist prepares a map of the ridge and spurs from where he has collected samples plotting the directions of soil samples he has taken in the field. He also plots the locations of soil sample on the map. As soon as, he receives the results of the chemical analysis of the soil samples he has collected, he plots the result of each sample on the map, and reads the results on the map, and then he draws the anomaly of the soil samples. The soil sampling has reduced anomaly to a considerably small size in the area, and has been closer to the mineral deposit.

The joint project management discusses an anomaly in the meeting of all geochemists to see whether it needs follow-on actions or not. Along with a brief technical report on his field trip, the geochemist submits the results of the ridge and spur soil sampling to the joint project management. Depending on the size of the anomaly, the project management sets its priority for a review and for follow-on actions. If the project management sees it deserve additional actions then it calls the meeting of all geochemists to discuss the anomaly. The concerned geochemist presents his findings and the justifications for additional follow-on actions if he thinks necessary. If the anomaly does not warrant any additional action, it goes to the archives.

If the anomaly deserves additional actions then the project management assigns the concerned geochemist for follow-on soil sampling. This is called a detailed soil sampling. The project is gradually reaching to the mineral deposit. So, the joint project management sends an expatriate expert geologist to ascertain the geology of the area and to see the possibility of finding a mineral deposit of any economic size. The geochemist follows the same sampling interval for the detailed soil sampling.

If the geochemist finds a reasonably consistent anomaly that promises possibly an economically viable mineral deposit then the project management launches follow-on exploration by drilling into the underground mineralization for rock sampling to identify a size and intensity of the mineralization. Before launching such an expensive exploration of a mineral deposit, the joint project management seriously discusses the findings of the mineralization with all the geochemists working in the project to see the possibility of finding an economically viable mineral deposit.

In the course of the mineral exploration, the project has collected thousands of steam sediment and soil samples, and analyze them for copper, lead and zinc, and has stored the reports of the chemical analysis, and the reports of the field trips and on the various anomalies for the future references in the archives of the Department of Mines and Geology.

If the Department of Mines and Geology or any interesting company or anybody wants to ascertain any other minerals, any of the agencies or s/he can retrieve the stream sediment and soil samples and can do the chemical analysis for any minerals.

The project has been successful to transfer the knowledge and skills in geochemical exploration from the expatriate experts to the Nepalese professional counterparts thus achieving the objectives of the project. However, it has been short of achieving the goal of finding an economic mineral deposit to the disappointment of the joint project management.

Ancient mineral explorers have already found most of the copper deposits identified by the project, and have even worked out even a minor deposit for extracting copper. They have done so, as one of the rulers called Prithvi Narayan Shah has forced the people of smith caste to pay tax in metals so they have to search mineral deposits and work out any size of minerals, and extract metal by the primitive method of smelting and submit the metal to the ruler.

The hunters of a copper mineral have used the method of locating green residue elsewhere in the hills for finding a copper deposit. One of the copper minerals has a green color. So, they had been successful to identify copper deposits following the green sediments in the hills.

Once they have found such a green residue, they have simply followed it to reach the mineralization. No matter how small the mineralization is they have worked it out for most probably survival. They have dug holes of sizes just enough for a man to crawl in and cut the mineral and bring it out in a wicker basket. The project geochemists have found many such past workings while in the field trips. Some of them are quite impressive. The ancient miners have dug a main small hole following the mineral deposit and then many small branch holes from the main hole.

They have crushed the ores manually and then extracted metal from the ores smelting it in the crudest way leaving high percentage of metal in the waste product called slag.

August 20, 2010

Note: HMG stands for His Majesty’s Government
UNDP stands for United Nations Development Program

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