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Nepal News
Nepal News
KTM Metro Reporter
December 22, 2018
Monorail Along The Ring Road
The news posted in “gorkhapatra” on December 21, 2018 stated that the mayor of Kathmandu and China Railway’s 25th Bureau Group Co have signed off a understanding on preparing the detailed project report (DPR) on building a monorail along the 27.5 km Ring Road that encompasses Kathmandu and Lalitpur; DPR would be prepared within a year.
Why the mayors of Kathmandu and Lalitpur wanted to run monorail is still a mystery. That might be the greed for commission because the large budget involved in constructing monorail surely would bring them a big bonus in the form of commission.
Anybody could predict without risking being a failure that the monorail is doomed to be failure. Folks had seen how the trolley bus had been a failure. A number of State-run factories and even service delivery corporations have been failure because they could not deliver the services as required by the beneficiaries.
The mayors would be well off to get engaged in filling up the potholes everywhere in Kathmandu and Lalitpur; commuters would bless them with votes in the next elections but they have been after something big.
The next important thing the mayors would need to do is to post the streets names. Streets names are rarely seen in Kathmandu and Lalitpur. Folks could live without the street names as they have been living without the street names for centuries; however, at that time the towns were quite small and folks could walk around the towns. Now, the towns have grown fantastically, folks would have difficulty in finding the areas without street names.
Surely, the house numbers are the next important things in the lives of the town dwellers. Municipalities including the metropolis have been collecting huge house tax but none of the municipalities are bothered to distribute the house numbers. So, mayors should be engaged in doing these trial matters but the most important things in the lives of the common folks.
Smart Zebra Crossings In Kathmandu
The news posted on http://therisingnepal.org.np/news/27668 on December 20, 2018 stated that the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is preparing to build smart zebra crossings means crosswalks in Kathmandu.
Such crosswalks would stop speeding vehicles 10 meters ahead of them. It is fantastic, is not it? Drivers would not need to apply brake. Then, what would happen the vehicles coming behind?
Drivers in Kathmandu are the most indiscipline ones whether they are motorcyclists, taxi drivers, pickup truck drivers or yellow bus drivers; they don’t honor the traffic rules at all. The most notorious drivers are motorcyclists. They drive as if the entire roads are theirs. They don’t care about others. So, none of the day passes without the news of one or more motorcyclists got killed.
Probably, smart crosswalks would save those unfortunate motorcyclists stopping them 10 meters before they reach crosswalks. They would neither hit someone crossing the road nor pickup trucks or other vehicles would hit them.
The news also stated that KMC has the budget of Rs 4 billion for the development of physical infrastructures in the fiscal year 2018, and most of the budget would be spent on the expansion and repair of the roads.
Almost a half fiscal year has been passed since it started in the mid July 2018 but potholes are everywhere to see for everybody. Probably, the mayor and his deputy are waiting for the monsoon to start the repair and expansion work on the roads because it is easier to finish off the budget than get the work done.
Melamchi Drinking Water Project
The Radio Nepal seven o’clock morning news on December 22, 2018 stated that the Patan High Court has instructed the government not to enforce its decision on confiscating the security money the Italian Company has deposited for the contract it has receiving for the construction of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project.
Previous news had stated that the staffers of the contractor Italian company were about to flee Nepal not being able to complete the work because of the short supply of funding. They were arrested from the Thamel in Kathmandu.
The news in “The Himalayan Times” stated on December 21, 2018 that the Minister for water Resources Bina Magar speaking at the Parliamentary Finance Committee said on December 20, 2018 that the decision of Italian contractor Cooperativa Muratori e Cementisti (CMC) on deserting the Melamchi Drinking Water Project would not affect its completion; the sub-contractors could complete the remaining project work.
The news quoted the minister, “Some work related to construction of support walls and plastering the floor of the tunnel is left and that can be accomplished by sub-contractors. As sub-contractors of the project are in constant contact with MoWS, we can request them to complete the remaining work, if necessary.”
“Though asking the Italian firm, which has already declared its bankruptcy, to complete the project is not good, seeking a new contractor will be lengthy and substantially delay the construction. In such a context, we are trying to convince CMC to complete the project assuring necessary facilitation from the government regarding some technical parts,” said Minister Magar, the news stated.
Former Governor Of Central Bank Charged With Corruption
The news posted in “gorkhapatra” on December 21, 2018 stated that Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case at the Special Court against three former Central Bank called Nepal Rastra Bank officials including former Governor Dr Tilak Rawal implicating them in the irregularities in the printing of polymer banknotes done in Australian 15 yeas ago.
CIAA has demanded the return of 9,109,889 from each of those accused, and then the fine and punishment for the irregularities they had committed while getting printed the polymer banknotes in Australia.
The news in The Himalayan Times on December 20, 2018 stated that the bank officials had increased the printing cost by four Australian dollars per 1,000 notes; the Central Bank had awarded Note Printing Australia, an Australian Central Bank subsidiary, to print 100 million of the Rs 10 denomination notes in 2002.
Brief History of Melamchi Drinking Water Project
Folks of the Nepal Valley curiously waited for the drinking water from the Melamchi River flowing in the Sindhupalchok District during the Dashain festival of 2018 because the new government that came to power after the first elections held following the people’s constitution had promised it; and the folks trusted it.
Then, what happened was that the Dashain festival came and the folks celebrated it with the great enthusiasm as every year they do but the water from the Melamchi River did not flow in the Nepal Valley. The question is when it will flow, no answer from the government.
It indicates that none of the elected and appointed high officials of the government were held accountable for their actions and what they said. Even the prime minister is not held accountable for what he says. That has been one of the main reasons for missing the deadline of completing the projects. Another widely known reason is the moneymaking business of the officials and ministers involved, as the delay in the project completion means extra incomes for the officials involved in the projects. As a result, cost overrun and time overrun have been the usual business in the project implementation.
In April 2018, the project management had boasted that the 26-km tunnel had been gone through making the folks in the valley happy and giving them the anticipation that the water would soon come to the valley. The project management said that the Melamchi Water would flow to the Sundarijal water-treatment tanks in July 2018.
Even the Asian Development Bank that has provided the major portion of the US$ 355.4 million project in a loan has been enthusiastic to state the project will be fully operational in a few months. Obviously, the officials of the bank did not know how the Nepali officials worked and work to gain even a few rupees at the cost of millions to a project to quote current Minister for Industry and Supply Matrika Yadav.
Secretary to the Ministry of Water Resources Gajendra Thakur said that the government had Rs 3.50 billion of the contractor company CMC and the cost of the remaining work was only around Rs 2.60 billion; Nepal would not suffer from the financial loss even if CMC abandoned work, the news on the http://setopati.net/political/136052 stated on December 21, 2018.
When the water from the Melamchi River would flow to the Nepal Valley remains mystery.
Updated on December 23, 2018
