KATHMANDU: Economic Digest, a daily morning email digest, is basically a relatable summation of important business news from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries.
Master plan to upgrade Dhangadhi Airport into int’l airport ready
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has prepared a 20-year master plan to upgrade Dhangadhi Airport into an international airport.
According to the plan, the project is estimated to cost Rs 20 billion – Rs 5 billion for land acquisition and Rs 15 billion for infrastructure development, informed Rajan Pokhrel, Director General of CAAN.
The CAAN will have to acquire 244 bigha of land for the project. According to Pokhrel, the implementation of the master plan will begin from the next fiscal year.
Tourist arrivals drop by 33 percent in January
Despite being the first month of the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, the number of tourist arrivals in Nepal has declined by 33 percent in January.
According to the Department of Immigration (DoI), a total of 67,020 tourists from different countries visited Nepal in January. However, during the same period last year a total of 91,793 tourists had visited Nepal, Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) stated.
January has already turned into an unfavorable month for the national campaign due to the recent incidents of a tourist bus accident, avalanche in Annapurna region, death of Indian tourists and recent announcement of the Chinese government to halt outbound tourist groups due to coronavirus.
Locals of Kawasoti produce gas from trash
The residents of Kawasoti, Nawalpur in Nawalparasi have been able to produce biogas to meet their energy needs. Local folks are separating their biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes for producing biogas as well as keeping their surroundings clean.
According to Lekhnath Basyal, Chairman of the Kawasoti Agricultural Market Center, a 50-cubic meter biogas plant has been constructed to manage the generated waste and produce biogas.
The plant was set up with an investment of Rs 800,000 out of which Rs 500,000 was invested by the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, Lalitpur and Rs 300,000 by the market center.
Dhangadhi Airport to close partially till Feb 23
Dhangadhi Airport has been partially closed from Sunday for maintenance and upgrading activities of the runway. In-charge of Dhangadhi Airport Tej Bahadur Budha Thapa informed that owing to the maintenance that started from Sunday, the airport would remain closed from 3 pm to 8 am till February 23.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the airport has a length of 1,800 meters and is 60 meters wide. The runway is being widened by two meters on both sides.
Karnali Province lacks mechanism to register tourist arrivals
The target of welcoming 100,000 international tourists in 2020 was announced during the official inauguration of the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign at Bulbule garden with the slogan ‘This Time, Visit Karnali’.
One month of the campaign has already elapsed, but the provincial government doesn’t have data of international tourists visiting the province.
As the provincial government has not organized any special event and activity for VN2020, it will be difficult to meet the target, say local tourism stakeholders.
They also say that it was unfortunate that the provincial government doesn’t even have a mechanism to record tourists entering the province.
Rasuwagadhi Hydropower faces problem in tailrace tunnel digging
The under-construction Rasuwgadhi Hydropower Project in Rasuwa is facing a problem in digging the tailrace tunnel because of the weak geological conditions.
Out of the total 660 meters, the weak geological condition has affected the tunnel digging work in about 70-meters section, according to the project office. “Weak geological conditions have slowed our work progress. It will now take six months to complete the tailrace tunnel,” an official of the project said.
According to Chhabi Gaire, chief of the project, only around 100 Chinese workers are at the project site these days. “Before the outbreak of coronavirus, we had about 200 Chinese works. The workers, who returned home for the New Year celebration, have not returned,” he added.
(Compiled and prepared by Swastik Aryal, Akash Shrestha, Nitish Lal Shrestha, Diana Zulkifli)
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. The Institute for Strategic and Socio-Economic Research (ISSR), Nepal’s independent think tank, and Khabarhub — Nepal popular news portal — have joined hands to disseminate news from Nepal in the form of Economic Digest.
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