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Kathmandu: Sajha Yatayat is prepar­ing to start a new technology-sup­ported payment and ticketing ser­vices in its public buses. According to acting CEO of the Sajha Yatayat (Transport) Mahendra Pandey, Sajha is launching e-ticketing with the coordination of Nepal Rastra Bank. Passengers may then use a card (which will be like an ATM card) to pay for transport. The Sajha now has 46 buses in operation, 44 of which run inside Kathmandu valley. RSS

Age, it seems, is starting to catch up with Sher Bahadur Deuba. The recently-ousted Prime Minister and President of Nepali Congress—the main opposition party in national and in six of the seven provincial parliaments—needs physi­cal assistance to safely move around these days. Raised in an environment where political leaders tend to cling to power till they are literally on their death-beds, Deu­ba is not the only aging top leader in active politics. Yet there are other good reasons why time has come for the four-time prime minister to bow out, while he can still do so with a smidgen of grace.

Having earned for himself such unappetizing epi­thets as ‘incompetent’ and ‘wasteful’ over his previous three terms as prime minister, Deuba, however, will also be remembered for successfully holding all three constitutionally-mandated elections on time during his fourth term. This is no small feat. In doing so he has paved the way for a peaceful and prosperous New Nepal. It would make sense for him to retire on this high. On the other hand, if he looks to hang on, it is all downhill for the septuagenarian.

It is hard to see the electoral fortunes of Congress turn around under Deuba. His party’s rather humiliating outing in recent elections—in national parliament, the party won just 63 seats compared to CPN-UML’s 121—has largely been attributed to two factors. One, the party’s paucity of agenda save for endlessly demonizing ‘the authori­tarian left’ at the hustings. Two, people’s lack of faith in Deuba as a statesman. So long as Deuba and Congress continue to be coterminous, it will be difficult to asso­ciate the party as the one that has been at the vanguard of every major democratic change since 1950.

With the unity of the two left parties, which together now enjoy thumping majorities in the federal as well as in six provincial parliaments, and in most local units, too, the country desperately needs a strong and credi­ble opposition. But only a Congress that is thoroughly revamped, from the grassroots right up to its top lead­ership, can play this vital role. Both age and new imagi­nation not on his side, Deuba knows this well. Perhaps he as well realizes that his last-ditch efforts to retain party leadership is a lost battle. It also does grievous harm to his party and his country.

The construction of the Bheri Bridge con­necting Chaurjahari of West Rukum and Kudu of Jajarkot has been stuck in limbo. The 150m-long bridge is part of the Mid-hill highway, also called the Pushpalal highway.Although construction began five years ago, even foundational work on the bridge remains incomplete. The Department of Roads (DoR) has attributed the delay to the tardiness and negligence on the part of YP Construction Kath­mandu, the company that has the Rs 150 million contract for the bridge. The company, on the other hand, blames the delay on a “flawed design estimate”.

Bishal Sharma, head of Chaurjahari municipality, says construction was affect­ed because the road section linking Chaurja­hari and Sallibazar is treacherous. He adds that despite repeated requests for speedy construction of the bridge, work has dragged on due to the construction company’s refusal to cooperate.

“The work that was supposed to be complet­ed in three years has dragged on for five years. The local government will take action against the construction company if it does not resume work in this fiscal year,” he said.

However, Raju Shrestha, proprietor of the construction company, offers a counter-nar­rative. He argues that the DoR’s plan had to be redesigned two years into construction. He puts the blame for the delay squarely on the DoR, which he alleges of making a perfunctory design without visiting the site. This, he says, made a second design necessary. But Shrestha is confident construction will be completed in next two years as a new design had already been drawn up.

The delay in building the bridge has adversely affected the construction of the Jajarkot section of the highway, depriving people of Jajarkot and Rukum of a motor road. This means they will continue to have to rely on a suspension bridge for mobility. The delay has also obstruct­ed work on the highway’s upgrade as well as town-planning at Chaurjahari.

 By Rajendra Karki | Jajarkot

Bhaktapur: The Suryabinay­ak-Dhulikhel road is going to be upgraded to eight lanes. Concerned authorities have stressed the need for start­ing the construction work at the earliest. They expressed their views at a ‘suggestion-col­lection campaign’ organized last week at Jagati, Bhaktapur by the Department of Roads (DoR).

On the occasion, former minister and parliamentary member Mahesh Basnet said that the road expansion will alleviate traffic congestions. He also talked about the need to install traffic lights, con­struct overhead bridges and manage sidewalks.

Sanjaya Kumar Shrestha, chief of DoR’s Foreign Aid Division, said that the Japa­nese government, which will provide financial support to the project, was carrying out a preliminary study of the proj­ect. Following a preliminary study, it had pledged to sign a loan agreement during a recent visit of DoR representa­tives to Japan.

“The Japanese government will provide a loan for the proj­ect at an interest rate of 0.2 percent,” he said.

“Part of the project is a plan to construct a four-lane tunnel road at Palanse and to upgrade the road to eight lanes from Palanse to Sanga Bhangjyan,” he said.

“Fuel tankers will not be allowed on the tunnel road. A study is also being conducted to build a tunnel road along the Suryabinayak-Koteshwar road,” he added.

Other participants like Mayor of Suryabinayak Municipality, Basu Dev Thapa, a local representative from the municipality, Ukesh Kawa, and district president of the Federation of Nepali Jour­nalists, Pushkar Raj Budha­thoki, also spoke about the importance of starting the project soon. RSS

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NIC Asia Bank’s last week opened a new branch at Tilota­ma Municipality Ward 15, Kotihawa, Rupandehi. Ashok Kumar Poudel, director of Nepal Rastra Bank (Bhairaha­wa), inaugurated the branch, NIC’s 173rd. The bank will now serve its customers through 172 ATM counters and four exten­sions counters.

NIC Asia Bank is one of the largest private sector commer­cial banks in the country in terms of capital, balance-sheet size, customer base, number of branches and its ATM network. More branches are planned, says a bank statement.

 Nabil Bank is set to introduce Union Pay International QR Code Acquiring service in the country, a feature which could potentially eliminate the need for Point of Sales (POS) terminals. The cus­tomers can simply scan the QR readers at checkout counters at merchant outlets to make their payments.

When a customer scans the QR code, it transmits transaction information to the mobile app, where card details are stored and payment initiated. Through the new service, the bank intends to provide efficient and secure electronic transactions for both merchants and customers.