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After two years and two months since the commencement of the development of the Nagdhunga Tunnel, half of the construction of Nepal's first modern tunnel road project has been completed. The progress report provided by the Japanese contractor Hazma Ando Corporation for the month of February shows the physical progress of the project so far has reached 50.15 percent. The company started the construction work of the tunnel in December 2020. According to the report, the financing progress of the project has reached 70.50 percent. The Nagdhunga Tunnel road project is being built with a subsidized loan of Rs 16.63bn from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and an investment of Rs 5.85bn from the Nepal government. The government and Hazma Ando signed the contract agreement for the development of the project in September 2019. The Japanese contractor started the construction work 14 months later in December 2020. After the completion of the highway tunnel, it will connect Nagdhunga in Kathmandu to Sisnekhola in Dhading. As part of this project, two parallel tunnels are being constructed in Nagdhunga to facilitate vehicles entering the capital from the western parts of the country. The physical progress of the tunnel under the project has reached 79.20 percent. The length of the main tunnel in the project is 2,688 meters. So far, 1,869 meters of tunnels have been constructed. 893 meters from east (Kathmandu) and 976 meters from west (Nagdhunga) tunnels have been excavated. Similarly, the total length of the auxiliary (evacuation) tunnel is 2,557 meters. So far, 2,127 meters of tunnels have been dug. 1,147 meters from the east and 980 meters from the west tunnel have been dug. The project has targeted to break through the tunnel within the coming June. As for the working audit, 100 percent i.e. 126 meters has been completed, while 74 meters of cross-passage has been constructed which has a total length of 128 meters. Remaining work to be completed in a year The Nagdhunga Tunnel road project is obliged to complete the remaining half of the project in a year. The initial deadline for the project was set for April 2023 which was extended by 86 days due to the Covid-19 pandemic obstructions. After the time was added, the project should have been completed by July 2023. However, as it appeared that the project will not be completed within the period, the deadline has recently been extended by nine months as per the company's demand. Madhav Adhikari, Information Officer of the project said that now the company will complete the rest of the work by April 25, 2024. However, the latest progress report has shown that it will be a challenge to complete the rest of the project within the new deadline. The construction of 11 out of 12 structures to be built under the project has been completed. According to the details provided by the project office, the construction of three underpasses and four box culverts (structures where water flows under vehicles) has been completed. Also, the construction of one overpass and three bridges has been completed and only the flyover is under construction. Besides, two foundations and two auxiliary structures which will be under the flyover have been prepared. Besides, the design of the flyover is also in the final stage and the construction will start after the design is ready. The total cost of the Nagdhunga Tunnel road project has been estimated at Rs 22.14bn. Contractor seeks compensation for the damages due to closure of crushers Hazma Ando, the contractor of the project, is seeking compensation from the government for the losses it incurred when the project work halted after the government shut down the illegal crushers. The work related to the digging of the tunnel stopped for almost two weeks in January. The ballast needed for the project comes from the stones that come out of the tunnel. However, sand is brought from outside. There was a shortage of sand and the digging of tunnels was halted when the government took action against illegal crushers. It has been known that Hazma Ando has already sent a message to the project office to ask for compensation. A senior official of the project said that the project will submit a claim for compensation soon.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 1.85 points to close at 1,953.06 points on Tuesday. Similarly, the sensitive index plunged by 0.17 points to close at 386. 32 points. A total of 3,318,108 unit shares of 255 companies were traded for Rs 1. 13 billion. Meanwhile, Unique Nepal Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. NIC Asia Balanced Fund was the top loser as its price fell by 5.64 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 82 trillion.

After failing to supply fertilizers on time, the government has cut down the subsidies, making chemical fertilizers costlier for farmers. The government has reduced the overall subsidies on chemical fertilizers by 11.78 percentage points. By slashing the subsidy, the government has decided to increase the market price of chemical fertilizers. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) on Monday increased the prices of Urea, DAP, and Potash fertilizers. The price of Urea has been increased by about 78 percent while that of DAP and Potash by 16 and 29 percent, respectively. The meeting of the Fertilizer Supply and Distribution Management Committee on March 13 increased the sales price of Urea at the import point to Rs 25 per kg from earlier Rs 14 per kg. Similarly, the price of DAP has been increased to Rs 50 per kg from earlier Rs 43. The price of Potash has been increased to Rs 40 per kg from Rs 31. Among the chemical fertilizers imported into Nepal, the share of Urea is 56 percent while that of DAP and Potash is 42 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Earlier, the government used to provide an 80 percent subsidy on Urea fertilizer which has now been reduced to 64.5 percent. Similarly, the subsidy on DAP has been reduced to 52.4 percent from 59 percent earlier. And, subsidy on Potash has been reduced to 46 percent from 58 percent. Earlier, the government was subsidizing 70.82 percent on the import of chemical fertilizers earlier, which has now been reduced to 59.04 percent. MoALD has said that fertilizer subsidies will also be reduced further gradually. As the ministry plans to limit the subsidies to 50 percent, the price of fertilizers will further increase in the future. According to the ministry, the fertilizer price has been adjusted due to the rising price of chemical fertilizers in the international market and the decline in the exchange rate of Nepali currency with the US Dollar. "Nepal has to spend a lot of budget on subsidy amounts due to ever-increasing purchasing costs and low sales prices," said the ministry in a press statement. The government had allocated Rs 15bn for the import of chemical fertilizers in the current fiscal federal budget. Since the amount was insufficient, the MoALD said that an additional Rs 23.5bn has been managed to ensure the fertilizer imports. According to the ministry, the annual demand for chemical fertilizer in the country is 520,000 tons. However, the government has been failing to supply fertilizers as per the demand. According to the ministry, there is an agreement to import 333,500 tons of chemical fertilizers for the current financial year. So far 237,500 tons have been imported and the remaining 94,000 tons are under process. Despite this, there will be a shortage of 90,000 tons for the paddy plantation season.

Amid the news of three banks in the United States collapsing in the last one week, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Sunday called Lender of Last Resort Policy 2023. The NRB has issued a Lender of Last Resort Policy whereby banks and financial institutions (BFIs) can take such a facility from the central bank paying an additional two percent penal rate to the prevailing bank rate. According to NRB Executive Director Prakash Kumar Shrestha, the policy has been amended to amend the regulation which was introduced in 2011. "The issuance of the policy has nothing to do with the collapse of the US banks," said Shrestha, "It's just a coincidence. The NRB board had already endorsed the policy in the last week of February." A lender of last resort facility is a financial instrument used by BFIs in case of extreme liquidity crisis when they are unable to return the deposits of the general public. Till now, only the then Vibor Development Bank has used it. The NRB, acting as a lender of last resort, extended a short-term loan of Rs 500m to the troubled Vibor Development Bank in 2011 and rescued it from an acute liquidity crunch under the Lender of Last Resort Policy 2011. The central bank provides the lender of last resort facility to BFIs, especially when they face a severe shortage of investment-grade liquidity. Earlier, the central bank used to provide such a facility at the prevailing bank rate. Now, NRB has said that a two percent penal rate will be added to the prevailing rate while providing a lender of last resort facility. According to the NRB, if BFIs are unable to manage the necessary liquidity through the interbank market, daily liquidity facilities, open market transactions, and standing liquidity facility (SLF), they can get such a facility from the central bank. The facility will be provided even if the BFIs are unable to meet their immediate obligations due to a lack of marketable assets. Similarly, even if the BFIs are unable to make payment of a large amount in deposits, they can ask the central bank for such a facility. Similarly, the NRB policy talks of providing this facility to BFIs if the economy and financial system face challenges due to systemic risk posed by a single bank, or if there is a decline in the trust of the general public towards the banking system, or if a bank is unable to pay immediate obligations due to natural disasters, and if it is unable to fulfill its immediate obligations due to national and international crisis and the bank is liquidated. Getting the lender of a last resort facility is not easy. The board of the problematic bank must submit an application to the central bank with reasons for seeking a lender of last resort as well as an action plan to revive the bank. The central bank will provide the facility only after it finds the bank can operate smoothly in the long run. Along with the application, a 6-month cash flow projection, statement of assets and liabilities of different periods, statement of deposits and other short-term liabilities, and an action plan for revival should also be submitted.