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

New Bus Park to issue online tickets from Aug 17

Considering the risk of coronavirus spread, the New Bus Park in Kathmandu is set to introduce a token system for passengers to issue tickets from August 17.

The long-route buses will resume their services from August 17. The bus park has remained closed for around four months after the enforcement of the lockdown.

According to Deepak Kunwar, Chairman of Lhotse Multipurpose Pvt Ltd, they are introducing the token system and a computerized billing system to ensure safety of their staffers.

The Lhotse Multipurpose Pvt Ltd operated the new bus park. Likewise, the passengers can also issue tickets online as the required information of the bus will be made available online.

According to Kunwar, they will also prioritize the sanitization and cleanliness of the buses and compulsory use of masks.

US Ambassador Berry shows concern over delay in MCC ratification

US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry has expressed concern over the delay in the ratification of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

Meeting Ishwor Pokhrel, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense on Sunday, Ambassador Berry sought the updates on the MCC ratification in Nepal.

The US grant, MCC which was expected to be ratified on May 29, has not been tabled for discussion and ratification till date despite the demand from most of the political parties in the parliament that it should be passed instantly.

According to the Defense Ministry sources, Ambassador Berry wondered at the delay in the ratification here and added that there were many countries seeking this grant.

Ambassador Randy is reported to have asking Minister Pokhrel as why Nepal was lingering the process at a time when several other countries across the globe are asking the United States for MCC assistance.

Sources claimed that Deputy PM Pokharel informed Ambassador Berry that a thorough discussion was going on the MCC grant and tried to assure Berry that it would be ratified from the parliament.

Hotels in Sauraha ready to welcome guests

The government has lifted the lockdown imposed to check the spread of coronavirus. Public vehicles, industries and the market are back into operation as usual.

Likewise, the tourism sector is also gearing up to open itself for visitors beginning July 30, as decided by the government.

Accordingly, the hotel entrepreneurs in Sauraha, one of the most popular tourist destinations of the country, are preparing for the resumption of service after almost four months.

There are 110 hotels in operation in Sauraha. As part of the preparation and promotion, a group of youths began a cycle rally on Saturday to lure domestic tourists to Sauraha.

The rally that began from Sauraha reached up to Kasara before returning to the starting point. A total of 17 cyclists took part in the rally.

Rain damages crops in Chitwan, hike in price of vegetables

Continuous rain has caused much damage to crops and vegetables in the district. The excessive accumulation of water in the fields has damaged the crops.

According to Agricultural Knowledge Centre Bharatpur, the rain has its impact in most parts of the district. The hilly areas experienced damage and losses from the landslide events while the plain areas in the district suffered the consequences of inundation. In

Bharatpur municipality, paddy, banana and vegetable crops cultivated in 4,000 hectares of land were damaged due to inundation.

Agricultural farming done in the downstream of Narayani river was damaged by the disaster. Ward no 16, 18, 19, 26, 27 and 28 faced the highest scale of damage. Kalika Padampur area which is popular for banana farming is not untouched by the monsoon impact.

As said by Centre Chief, Rajan Dhakal, nursery plants are damaged and ruined due to the impact of storage of water more than necessary.

More, incidents of small landslide damaged crops mainly maize in some parts of hilly Ichhakamana rural municipality in the district.

As Dhakal said the details of loss will be submitted to the District Disaster Management Committee to proceed for the relief distribution to the farmers.

(Compiled and prepared by 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.