Submit your Article

Chances of Nepal exporting 500 MW of electricity to Bangladesh appear slim, at least for the foreseeable future. This is mainly because an interim order from the Supreme Court, issued on Nov 3 2022, has put on hold the agreement based on which the Indian promoter company Gandhi Mallikarjun Rao (GMR) was planning to sell 500 MW in Bangladesh after completing the construction of the 900-MW Upper Karnali Project. On 15 July 2022, the Council of Ministers had extended the deadline given to GMR by two years for financial management and directed the company to finalize a relevant deal with Bangladesh within 18 months. The Supreme Court had issued an interim order on Nov 3 demanding to know why the firm had failed to manage funds on time. Issuing its verdict on a writ petition filed by Ratan Bhandari, a single bench of Supreme Court Judge Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada had issued an interim order to not implement the decision of extending the deadline given to GMR. This, according to experts, is spoiling the environment for foreign investment in Nepal’s hydropower sector. In mid-November last year, the government had moved the Supreme Court demanding that the interim order be vacated. The Upper Karnali project is being constructed under the build-own-operate-transfer model. If the project materializes, Nepal will receive 27 percent free equity and 12 percent free energy from the project, amounting to 108 MW of electricity, approximately equal to 15 percent of the current installed capacity in Nepal. Bangladesh has issued a letter of intent to GMR, expressing interest to sign a contract for the purchase of 500 MW. The power purchase agreement was expected to be signed by  December, which has not happened thus far. It is not only the case of Upper Karnali alone, with a petition filed in the SC against the West Seti project as well. The court order will have a bearing on the overall investment climate in the country, per hydropower experts. “The order will give an impression to foreign investors that investing in Nepal is difficult. In such a case, the developers will not be willing to invest here,” said Amrit Lamsal, spokesperson at Investment Board Nepal. The experts say the decisions should not put the entire work on halt. “The court should issue verdicts on time if such projects are against national interest,” said Mukesh Kafle, former managing director at Nepal Electricity Authority.

CPN-UML lawmaker Dev Raj Ghimire was elected the Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Thursday. In the voting at HoR, Ghimire polled 167 votes against Nepali Congress lawmaker Ishwori Devi Neupane’s 100. From among the 275 members in the parliament, 268 were present during the election. One of the members remained neutral. CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Center), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Janata Samajbadi Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party and a few independent candidates voted for Ghimire. “A beautiful exercise of democracy has been practiced and I have been elected through that exercise. I will discharge my duties as the Speaker in an impartial manner,” said Ghimire. “I will play a free, fair and impartial role. You will see it through my words and actions,” he added. Ghimire’s comments should be seen in light of controversies surrounding his predecessors. Krishna Bahadur Mahara, elected to the constitutional position in 2017, faced an attempt-to rape charge from a staffer of the Parliament Secretariat. Later, he stepped down. Mahara got a clean chit from the court in that case. Agni Sapkota courted controversy for his reluctance to table the MCC Bill in the parliament. His share of controversies did not end there. During his speakership, the Madhav Kumar-led faction parted ways with the UML. Subsequently, the UML wrote to the parliament, requesting the Speaker to read out that letter in the parliament. But Sapkota sat on the letter for 14 days, thereby making way for the emergence of the Nepal faction as a political party and the collapse of then KP Oli-led government. It was assumed that Sapkota was acting at the behest of Pushpa Kamal Dahal. “The Speaker should be impartial. The position is not supposed to represent a political party in the parliament. The speaker must table proposals and other bills on time. S/he should not act on behalf of leaders of his/her party and should not work in accordance with its mandate. The speaker should be neutral with regard to the bills and issues to be tabled in the parliament. The holder of this constitutional position should properly conduct meetings in the House. He should be able to win the confidence of the opposition in the House,” said Professor and political critic Lok Raj Baral. He suggested the Speaker will be appreciated if he does not work as per the party’s wishes. “I doubt that the speakers will be able to play a neutral role in the parliament as they happen to be one or the other party’s favorites,” said Baral. Former Speaker Subash Chandra Nembang said the Speaker should be neutral and should discuss issues before the House with all political parties. “The Speaker is like a referee in a football match. He should be able to command the respect of all parties by playing a free and fair role,” Nembang said. For this, the speaker should resign from his position in his party, he suggested. Keeping in view the controversies surrounding former speakers, Ghimire said he is aware of all this and has learned his lessons.

At least 69 people died and three others remained unaccounted for as a Yeti Airlines plane (call sign 9N-ANC), en route to Pokhara from Kathmandu, crashed at the Seti gorge before touchdown at the Pokhara Regional International Airport on Sunday morning. There were 68 passengers and four crew members on board the plane. Among the passengers, 53 were Nepalis, five Indian nationals, four Russians, two Koreans and one each from Ireland, Argentina, Australia and France, Yeti Airlines said in a press release. There were 37 males, 25 females, three children and as many infants onboard along with the crew members: Kamal KC, Anju Khatiwada, Srijana Hongchun and Osin Ale Magar. Captain KC was piloting the ATR 72 500 aircraft that crashed into the gorge located between the old airport and the newly-opened international airport. “The aircraft was last in communication with the Pokhara Regional International Airport at 10:50 in the Seti gorge,” the statement read. Anil Kumar Shahi, assistant chief district officer at the District Administration Office, Kaski, said at least 37 bodies had been sent to Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences for post-mortem. Security agencies and firefighters were conducting search and rescue efforts till late into the evening. Plumes of smoke billowing from the crash site were seen in the images and videos posted on social media platforms. A video taken just before the crash showed the aircraft turning to its side before the crash. Officials said the pilots had not reported any technical problem to the control room before the crash and the weather was also clear.  But according to some reports the 15-year-old plane was equipped with an “old transponder with unreliable data”. Sunday’s plane crash is the biggest so far in the domestic sector. On 12 July 1969, 35 people died when a domestic flight crashed near Hetauda. The Yeti crash comes merely a fortnight after the inauguration of the new airport in Pokhara. Buddha Air, Shree Airlines, Yeti Airlines, and Guna Air had started conducting daily flights to and from the new airport. This is the second air crash of Yeti in eight months. On May 29, 2022, a plane owned by Tara Air, a subsidiary of Yeti, crashed shortly after take-off from Pokhara, killing 22 people. Nation mourns After the air crash, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal gathered detailed information on the plane crash from the Rescue Coordination Center at the Tribhuvan International Airport, including technical and other possible reasons behind the crash, the PM's Secretariat stated. An emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers has formed a five-member committee under former government secretary Nagendra Ghimire to investigate the disaster. The meeting declared Monday (Jan 16) a public holiday to mourn the loss of lives. Meanwhile, Yeti Airlines also canceled all its flights scheduled for Monday. Prez extends sorrow President Bidya Devi Bhandari has extended tributes to the victims of the crash and condolences to the bereaved families. “I am shocked by the news about the plane crash in Pokhara. I extend heartfelt tributes to all those passengers and crew members killed in the crash and offer heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families,” the president tweeted. Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed sorrow over the crash, urging the government to ensure prompt and effective rescue efforts and directing cadres of the party to get involved in rescue works. Air safety in question? The air crash occurred at a time when the French Civil Aviation Authority had expressed commitment to taking initiatives for removing Nepal from the European Union's air safety list. The European Commission (EC) has imposed a blanket ban on Nepali airlines entering into European airspace in 2013, meaning Nepal's airlines cannot fly to European countries. The UN aviation regulatory body, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), has blacklisted Nepal since 2013 calling it unsafe, citing three plane crashes – one in 2011 and two in 2012 as the bases for the ban on Nepali airlines. Technical inspection necessary Sunday’s emergency Cabinet meeting instructed all airline operators to conduct mandatory technical tests to prevent accidents in domestic flights. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal will do necessary inspections. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Bishnu Poudel said: “We believe the decision will play a role in preventing air crashes.” In May 2022, CAAN had come up with a more stringent flight permit rule, saying that clear weather throughout the route is a requirement to conduct a flight. But the airline operators had described the rule as impractical. ‘Conduct proper probe’ ApEx caught up with Rajan Pokhrel, former director-general, CAAN, to talk about the Yeti crash and its impact on Nepal’s aviation sector. How will today’s crash affect the tourism industry? Today’s plane crash will have an impact on the tourism industry, which was just reviving after the coronavirus pandemic. It has raised questions about air safety in Nepal. A total of 15 foreigners have died in the crash. Such air crashes give a negative message. Will today’s crash impact the ICAO’s decision? Previous crashes occurred in rural areas. But today’s crash occurred in a city. This will have an impact on the European Union’s decision on a blanket ban on Nepali airlines entering European airspace and the ICAO’s blacklist. The crash shows we need to make our air space safer. I think the EU and ICAO will again review their decisions. What may have caused the crash? It was the same aircraft that had already done a demo flight in the newly constructed airport. The airport is bigger and has proper space for takeoff and landing. A proper investigation is necessary to establish the cause of the crash.