KATHMANDU: Economic Digest, a daily morning email digest, is basically a relatable summation of important business news from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries.

Pathao, Tootle on verge of collapse due to lockdown

Tootle and Pathao, transport service providers to the public in the Kathmandu Valley, have been hit hard by the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Sharing woes of the company, Shashanka Thapa, manager of the Pathao, said the company is undergoing a difficult phase with no signs of resumption of public transport services. Due to the lockdown imposed by the government to stem the coronavirus spread, 50,000 riders have been staying in their houses and that the company is not able to pay salary to its staffers and rent to the office.

Tootle, another public transport service provider, has no different story. Sharing the problems, Kshitiz Bhatta, director of Tootle, said the company is on the brink of collapse due to the ongoing lockdown.

It has not been able to even pay its staffers and meet office expenses. Over 30,000 to 35,000 riders of Tootle are currently staying at home due to lockdown.

Riverbed products extraction goes unchecked in Sarlahi

Illegal extraction of riverbed products, including sand and gravel has continued unabated in the Sarlahi district despite the ban.

This has aggravated deforestation in the Chure region. Extraction of the riverbed products from the Lakhandehi, Bagmati, Kalinchowk and Fuljor rivers have gone unchecked in various pretexts, locals have said.

The rivers witnessing the increasing extraction of river materials are located at the range of 500-meters to seven kilometers from the East-West Highway.

In some places, the extracted products have been explicitly gathered on the road and are supplied to India through interior routes, locals said.

Vegetable depot resumes in Chitwan

The Metropolitan Vegetable Depot in Chitwan has resumed its operation. The vegetable depot was closed two months ago due to the threat of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The vegetable shops will open from 6:00 am to 4:00 every day. The depot has 60 wholesale shops of vegetables and fruits including groceries.

Farmers and locals had earlier exerted pressure on the concerned authorities and people’s representatives to resume the depot saying that the local products were damaged.

1.25 MW solar energy added to the national grid

The national transmission system has received 1.25 megawatt more solar energy. The power generated by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) in Nuwakot was linked to the national grid, the NEA officials said.

Since the battery is not fixed, the solar plant generates power only when there is the sunshine. With an installed capacity of 25 megawatts, this is the largest solar plant project in the country.

NEA’s Executive Director Kulman Ghising said 10 megawatts more energy would be added to the national grid within one-and-a-half month.

However, the remaining other IS likely to consume some more time since the NEA is awaiting the approval of the initial environmental examination (IEE) report.

(Compiled and prepared by Swastik Aryal and Nitish Lal Shrestha)

Nepal Economic Digest is a daily morning email digest, basically relatable summations of the most important business news, happenings from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries.