* Minister, NOC GM say not possible
SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, DEC 09 -
A hike in prices of petroleum products has always been a sensitive issue. Like in the past, the recent hike by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has invited criticism from all quarters. Political parties, student unions, consumer forums and entrepreneurs dealing in petroleum products are not very comfortable with the recent price hike.
Pressure is mounting on NOC to review the hike. A meeting of Finance and Labour Committee of the Parliament on Thursday asked the state-owned oil monopoly to rethink the price hike.
The main opposition, UCPN (Maoist), has even threatened to launch street protests if the government doesn’t roll back the hike. Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nepal) picketed the NOC and padlocked its office on Wednesday.
Gas Dealers’ Federation Nepal has announced that it would halt the sales and supply of LPG on Sunday.
NOC had raised the prices of all major petroleum products on Monday, which made petrol, diesel and kerosene dearer by Rs 3 each and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Rs 75 per cylinder (weighing 14.2 kgs).
The Finance Committee’s meeting directed the NOC to resolve the price hike issue through all alternative measures. The lawmakers criticised the NOC’s act of justifying the price hike by showing massive losses every time rather than reforming the institution.
Commerce and Supplies Minister Rajendra Mahato and NOC General Manager Digamber Jha have remained firm against the price hike. Mahato said the gasoline prices were increased in line with the international market and said there will be no roll back. Jha, at the Finance Committee meeting on Thursday, said there were no alternatives to increasing the fuel prices to narrow down the existing loss and ensure smooth supply.
With the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the sole Indian supplier of gasoline to Nepal, increasing export rates and the new budget doubling road maintenance fee on petrol and diesel import, the NOC was under sheer pressure to jack up the fuel prices. These two things, according to NOC, increased its losses.
However, NOC has been maintaining that it could roll back the price if the government provides an immediate grant of Rs 400 million. The corporation has blamed the government for the price hike as it increased the road maintenance fee. It also said the government hasn’t waived the Value Added Tax (VAT) on LPG despite its repeated pleas.
Except for a few instances, the government has never withdrawn the fuel price hike. Will it do so this time? The government hasn’t shown any indication so far.
Petroleum dealers and entrepreneurs accuse the political parties of waking up only after price hike decisions. They say the parties do nothing to transform NOC to a transparent and professional institution. “Political parties launching agitations only after NOC hikes the fuel prices is not reasonable,” said an official at the Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ Association (NPDA). “None of these parties show any interest in the institutional reform of the NOC.”
Institutional reform of the NOC has also been recommended by many committees formed in the past. A similar matter was raised by the Finance Committee on Thursday as well, when it asked the NOC to reform its internal management. It also asked the NOC to adopt scientific price adjustment measures in future before deciding on a price hike.
However, suggestions from these committees have rarely been implemented. Corruption, mismanagement and leakages have been the main reason behind the sorry state of NOC.
A report prepared by former Vice-Chairman of National Planning Commission Shankar Sharma stated that the NOC could save a substantial amount by controlling administrative overhead costs, technical losses and shrinkage. “Until and unless the irregularities in NOC are monitored, the corporation would not run healthy,” said an NPDA official.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Arrivals reach all-time high
The highest arrival record of 1999 was broken on December 9
SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, DEC 11 -
Tourist arrivals have bounced back in 2010 breaking all past records. Arrivals by air in the second week of December 2010 have surpassed the ever-highest number of 421, 243 recorded in 1999.
The country received 421,902 tourists in 2010 until Dec. 9, according to the tourist arrival statistics provided by Tribhuvan International Airport, Immigration Office. The highest arrivals record made in 1999 was exceeded on Dec. 9.
The second week of December saw about 1, 000 tourist arrivals daily. Travel trade entrepreneurs said that if the tourist inflow continues at the current rate, Nepal might well receive over 450,000 air tourists in 2010. However, they said tourist arrivals would drop in the third week of December due to Christmas. In the first 11 months, the country received 412,446 visitors. The figure was 378,712 in the same period last year. The country had witnessed record arrivals of 491,504 tourists (land and air) in 1999 on the back of the Visit Nepal Year 1998 promotional campaign. It was a steady slide thereafter.
Tourism entrepreneurs said three factors—increased air capacity, confidence build-up in tourist generating markets and the political commitment and investors encouraging investment in travel trade sector—boosted arrivals. “Looking at the recent arrivals trend, we can estimate that there will be over 600,000 tourists by both surface and air at the end of 2010,” said Prachanda Man Shrestha, chief executive officer of the Nepal Tourism Board.
The country has targeted attracting a million tourists in 2011. Of the total target, 700,000 have been estimated to arrive by air and the remaining by surface transportation.
Shrestha said that things were going in a positive direction. Prevailing peace has boosted the tour and travel operators’ confidence in the international market, as a result, they had been referring visitors for Nepal. Likewise, over two dozen international airlines connectivity has also made the things happen. However, the only setback in the tourism sector here is the ongoing issue of the national flag carrier. “Due to hitches in Nepal
Airlines’ fleet expansion, it has become hard to make attractive tour
packages and also reduce the airfare rendering competition with international carriers.”
Soaring tourist arrivals have brought smiles to the faces of travel entrepreneurs and hotel operators. “Things are looking very promising,” said Abinav Rana, general manager of the Radisson Hotel.
According to Rana, room occupancy of the hotels has bounced back. He said hotel occupancy in the last three month was encouraging. Hoteliers said that the last three-month period saw all the star properties being booked.
“Increased arrivals had a positive impact on hotels and the arrivals were result oriented this year,” he added. Prevailing peace in the country after many years and the Nepal Tourism Year 2011 hype has spurred visitor arrivals, Rana added. After some decades, the hospitality sector has revived with investors injecting massive investments in hotels.
The existing hotels have begun refurnishing their rooms and upgrading their services. All sorts of businesses, from handicraft, restaurants and hotels to trekking have experienced a significant growth this year. “Business of all the tourism sectors has increased,” said Arjun Prasad Sharma, president of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA).
He, however, said that the only hindrance in the tourism sector would be Nepal Airlines’ weak performance and connectivity. There are two dozen international airlines connecting Nepal, which is encouraging.
However, visitors arriving here have the issue of high travel cost. The government should think of expanding the fleet of Nepal Airlines in order to discourage monopoly by international airlines, Sharma said. Entrepreneurs said that if NAC had not been mired in controversy, things would have been even better.
Visitor Arrivals by Air
Year Tourists
1998 398,008
1999 421,243
2000 376,914
2001 299,514
2002 218,660
2003 275,438
2004 297,335
2005 277,346
2006 283,819
2007 360,713
2008 374,661
2009 378,712
2010-Dec. 9 421, 902
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