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The garbage of Singha Durbar, the country’s administrative hub, has not been collected for the past 12 days following the directive of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balen Shah. The waste of Singha Durbar, the President’s residence and the Speaker’s residence has not been collected for the past 12 days. Saying that the central government has been expressing its reluctance to coordinate with the local level, Mayor Shah had announced a halt in garbage collection from these places. The metropolis has been saying that the garbage would not be collected unless the government showed readiness to hold talks. Mayor Shah said that the decision to not collect garbage from Singha Durbar was an outcome of neglect, lack of responsibility and carelessness on part of the federal government. Earlier on Monday, a writ has been filed at the Supreme Court against the decision of Mayor Shah not to collect waste of Singha Durbar, Baluwatar and Sheetal Niwas.

While Nepal received the highest foreign direct investment (FDI) pledge of the year in Falgun, the overall FDI commitment is still down by 18.20 percent in FY 2022/23. The Department of Industry (DoI) has registered around 200 industries/firms that committed to investing Rs 28.129 billion in the nine months of the current fiscal year. FDI commitments worth Rs 34.388 billion were registered in the same period of FY 2021/22. According to the department, a total of 192 companies and firms have been registered in the first nine months of this fiscal. The department has also approved 53 technology transfer agreements. The majority of industries approved by the department are small-scale industries. The DoI approved 166 small-scale industries, 22 medium-level, and four large-scale industries in the current fiscal year. The service sector topped the chart in terms of FDI pledges. According to DoI, 45 percent of the registered industries are in the service sector category. The tourism sector is the second most preferred sector with 36 percent of industries registered in this category. Government officials point out the global economic downturn and the tightening of visa rules for foreign investors by the Nepal government for the decline in FDI pledges. "The FDI flow has decreased not only in Nepal but globally," said a DoI official. Nepal falls among the countries that receive the lowest FDI in the world. Despite many talks on attracting FDI in the country, the country has failed to attract foreign investors as expected. In November last year, the government lowered the minimum threshold for FDI to Rs 20 million from Rs 50 million to attract even the small foreign investors in the country. While the decision is expected to encourage FDI in the information and communication sector which does not need big investments in physical infrastructure, not many foreign investors have pledged to invest in this sector so far. FDI inflow declined this fiscal mainly due to a slowdown in investment commitment from China. The investors from the northern neighbor have been committing the largest amount of FDI in the last several years to Nepal. With China facing economic problems due to renewed Covid-19 crisis, and supply chain disruptions, investment pledges from the northern neighbor have also been affected. Tightening the visa rules for foreign investors, DoI in November last year, decided to recommend business visas for foreign investors only for three months at a time. As per the new rules, the department now recommends a business visa for three months by which time the investor has to submit a certificate of company registration. After the registration certificate has been received, DoI will recommend an extension of the business visa for another three months. Within this period, investors need to submit proof of having registered at the tax office and opened a bank account. However, DoI officials claim the new provision has helped in the screening of genuine foreign investors and that the results have been seen as reduced FDI pledges. Month wise FDI commitment

Energy sector stakeholders at the Power Summit 2023 have called on India to provide Nepal an opportunity to sell its electricity in different kinds of Indian power markets. The southern neighbor so far has allowed Nepal to sell the power in the day-ahead market. The stakeholders also asked for more flexible guidelines on providing market access to Nepal’s power to the Indian market. Currently, India provides market access on a project-to-project basis and the export of electricity has to go through several approval processes with Indian authorities. Nepali officials say that a long-term inter-government agreement would help to end the existing red tape in the approval process. The day-ahead market is the type of market where the price of electricity is fixed a day before the trading of power. Ever since the southern neighbor allowed Nepal to sell its power in India’s power market starting in November 2021, Nepal has only been selling its power in this market. Speaking at the Power Summit 2023, organized by the Independent Power Producers' Nepal (IPPAN), government officials said real-time trading and long-term markets are other options that Nepal wants to guarantee from India to sell its electricity. “It is necessary to have every type of market available for selling Nepal’s power in India,” said Dinesh Ghimire, Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, at one of the discussion sessions during the summit. “India has also assured us that it will provide access to all types of markets.” He said that the government was also seeking to sign a long-term inter-government agreement of trading of power between the two neighbors. Nepal is seeking a 25-year-long inter-governmental agreement with India on selling Nepal’s surplus power. During the 10th Joint Steering Committee meeting held in India in February, Indian officials had notified Nepal that it was working to allow Nepal to participate in real-time trading of power in the Indian market. Access to the real-time market would allow Nepal to sell power anytime and prevent power from being spilled. Nepal sold electricity worth over Rs 11 billion in the last wet season (June-November 2022) in the Indian day-ahead market. Kul Man Ghising, Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) also expressed hope that the real-time trading market and long-term market would be opened very soon by the Indian regulator for Nepal’s power. “There is a very optimistic scenario for the export market,” he said. “If we cannot be confident about the domestic and export market, we cannot attract investment in Nepal’s hydropower sector.” Nepal is seeking access to all types of India’s power market as the country is seeking to become a net exporter of power in the next few years. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the two-day summit that began on Tuesday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said Nepal could be a net power exporter by 2025. “Due to the accelerated pace of development of hydropower projects both from Independent Power Producers ( IPPs) and state utilities, we anticipate to be a net exporter of electricity by 2025 without any need to import even in the dry season,” he said. He said that even though Nepal’s key priority was to ensure high domestic consumption of electricity, Nepal is seeking to export power to protect the huge amount of money already invested in power generation until enough infrastructure is built in Nepal to utilize the generated electricity internally. “It is of equal importance, for economic reasons, to engage ourselves in the cross-border power trade in view of utilizing cheap and diverse resources existing in the region and sub-region,” he said. Bhupinder Singh, Director of Energy of Confederation of Indian Industries said that Nepal’s export to India would help the Indian market to be more competitive. “Indian consumers want a cheaper market and efforts should be made to make the price of electricity cheaper,” he mentioned. However, Nepali officials said that Nepal’s hydropower has continued to remain cheaper. Energy Secretary Ghimire said that the prices of Nepal’s hydropower should not be compared with that of the solar and wind energy in India. “Nepal’s hydropower will play a balancing role in India’s energy market,” he said.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 300 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 110, 300 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 110, 000 per tola on Tuesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 109, 750 per tola. It was traded at Rs 109, 500 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 10 and is being traded at Rs 1,445 per tola today.

President Ram Chandra Paudel has left for New Delhi, India on Wednesday for further treatment. He was taken to India by an air ambulance of Shree Airlines this morning, said President Paudel’s press advisor Kiran Paudel. Earlier on Tuesday evening, President Paudel was admitted to the Maharajgunj-based Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital after he complained of health problems. President Paudel will be treated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. The President had returned home after receiving treatment of stomach-related ailments at the same hospital on April 1.

India has recorded 10,542 new Covid infections in 24 hours, while the active caseload has risen to 63,562, Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday stated, The Times of India reported. A Delhi government bulletin on Tuesday stated that the national capital recorded 1,537 new Covid cases. Medical experts have said Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16 could be driving the surge in cases.

A meeting of the Constitutional Council held in Singha Durbar ended inconclusively on Wednesday. Though the meeting discussed the issue of appointing the chief justice, it did not make a concrete decision, National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina said. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had called the meeting for today to discuss the appointment of chief justice. Main opposition CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, Speaker of the House of Representatives Devraj Ghimire, National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka were present in the meeting presided over by Prime Minister Dahal.    

A 'Ride to Rara' motorcycle race is going to be held from Birendranagar, Surkhet to Mugu in Karnali Province. The 'Ride to Rara' competition to be held from April 23 to 25 is being organized by Triveni Adventures Pvt Ltd and Royal Enfield Bullet Bike Showroom. A total of 40 riders traveling on 20 bullet motorcycles will be taking part in the competition, according to Manaraj Simkhada, a member of the organizing team. The event is expected to help promote tourism in Karnali while the best riders will be selected to participate in a South Asian event, said Simkhada. The riders will be joined by a medical, technical and photography team and a documentary will also be produced. The event has been supported by Nepal Tourism Board and National Sports Council. According to the organizers, free registration has been arranged for those who wish to participate in the event that is expected to cost around Rs 800,000.