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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 16. 40 points to close at 2,105.46 points on Tuesday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 2. 74 points to close at 401. 69 points. A total of 4,685,809 unit shares of 255 companies were traded for Rs 1. 78 billion. Meanwhile, Unilever Nepal Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 6. 12 percent. Likewise, Barahi Hydropower Public Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 5. 07 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 03 trillion.

The State-owned Hetauda Cement Factory has stopped producing cement in lack of coal. According to the management, tender has already been announced for the supply of coal. The Industry has set a plan to import 10,000 metric tons of coal in the first and second phase. Deputy General Manager of the Industry Nabin Karna claimed that the management has been making arrangements to import necessary coal and they would start producing cement within a week. The coal would be brought from India, Indonesia, Bhutan and Pakistan. The Industry, which remained closed for a long time, was again brought into operation three months ago. Although it has a capacity to produce 750 tons of cement in a day, it has not been able to produce the cement as per its capacity due to machinery problems and lack of human resources. The Industry is in loss for the past four years. It was established with the support of the Asian Development Bank in 2033 BS.

National Pride Projects have been accorded high priority, have strategic importance for the country and the government has always guaranteed resources for the development of the projects. Yet the progress of national pride projects is far from satisfactory. This fiscal year is also no different. The latest report of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) shows only 15.16 percent of the budget allocated for these projects in the federal budget has been spent so far. Rs 98.97 billion was allocated for national pride projects, but only Rs 15.8 billion was spent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. Among the 21 national pride projects, Sunkoshi Marine Diversion Project has an edge over others when it comes to budget utilization. The project has spent 88 percent of the allocated amount in the first half of this fiscal. Of the total allocation of Rs 2.71 billion, the project has used Rs 2.39 billion till mid-January. Similarly, the power transmission project of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Nepal has the least progress. Only 3.66 percent of physical progress has been made till mid-January in this project. MCA Nepal has undertaken works related to the acquisition of land, design, study, and survey of the project for the current fiscal year. The MoF, in the mid-term review of the budget, has said 18 percent of the allocated budget has been spent on Pushpalal Highway, 42.60 percent on Postal Highway, 39 percent on Kosi Corridor, and 22.71 percent on Kali Gandaki Corridor in the first half of this fiscal year. The budget spending in Karnali Corridor is 9 percent, while Metro Rail and Monorail Development Project has utilized 22 percent. The much talked about Kathmandu-Terai Expressway is yet to expedite its works as only 9.11 percent has been spent in this fiscal. Meanwhile, Budhi Gandaki Reservoir Project has spent only 15.86 percent of the allocated budget. The MoF report shows none of the four irrigation projects, namely Babai, Mahakali, Sikta, and Ranijamara, have budget utilization above 50 percent in the first half of this fiscal. These 21 projects were given the status of 'national pride' with a belief that their construction will help the economic and social transformation of the country. As of now, the government has identified four irrigation projects, three hydropower projects, three international airports, six road projects, an electric railway project, a drinking water project, two projects aimed at promoting the holy sites of Pashupati and Lumbini, and an environmental conservation project as national pride project. But the start of the construction of many of these projects is yet to see the light of day. The construction of the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project and Gautam Budh International Airport was completed in the last fiscal year while that of Pokhara Regional International Airport was completed in the current fiscal year. According to MoF, the project implementation has not been effective due to the absence of separate legal provisions and standards regarding project selection and implementation. No clear standards have been prepared to maintain operational coordination with the provincial and local levels in terms of implementing projects of national pride. The concept of the ‘national pride project’ was first introduced in 2012. Yet, the government still has not framed any clear-cut criteria for the selection of national pride projects. As a result, the label of ‘national pride’ is put on projects through Cabinet decisions, which many say, is an ad-hoc process. MoF officials say the execution of national pride projects have been suffered due to delays in land acquisition, disputes between project officials and locals over compensation proposed by the government for land that needs to be acquired, unclear relocation and resettlement strategies, and lack of coordination among authorities concerned. Economists and development experts say a clear legal arrangement should be created and a separate law should be formulated to bring effectiveness in the selection and implementation of national pride and large projects of strategic importance. MoF is said to be working to create criteria for national pride projects. Under this, a project will be announced as the 'project of national pride' only after the finalization of the detailed project report, geological study, and regional balance analysis.  

Korean smartphone brand Samsung has launched its latest flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S23, in Nepal on Thursday. The Galaxy S23 series namely the Galaxy S23, the Galaxy S23+, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra were unveiled by Sung June Park, Vice President of Samsung, Pranaya Ratna Sthapit, Director of Samsung Nepal, movie star Anmol KC and Miss Nepal 2022 Priyanka Rani Joshi amid an event held in Kathmandu. "The Galaxy S23 smartphones have been designed to re-invent premium experiences like never before," said the company in a press statement. The company claimed the Galaxy S23 series comes with groundbreaking camera capabilities that allow consumers to capture photos and videos in any lighting condition using both rear and front cameras. Samsung has termed S23 a 'future-ready device' for mobile gaming experience and a 'planet-friendly device' that has been manufactured using twice the recycled materials than before. “The Galaxy S23 series has the power of our most advanced mobile technology to bring your world into sharper focus with the all-new 200-million-pixel camera in the Galaxy S23 Ultra, making every photo epic," said Sthapit. "With the most powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for the galaxy, the gaming performance in these devices are unbeatable. We are excited to launch the Galaxy S23 series in Nepal which is the ultimate premium smartphone—designed for today and beyond to help people take their passions further.” The phone's camera gives users more freedom to explore their creativity, like capturing truly cinematic 'nightography' videos with transformative AI. In a Samsung Galaxy-first, Galaxy S23 Ultra boasts a massively upgraded Adaptive Pixel 200-million-pixel sensor that captures epic moments with incredible precision. It uses pixel binning to support multiple levels of high-resolution processing at once. And because selfie cameras are more important than ever to how we communicate today, Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 introduce fast autofocus and the first Galaxy Super HDR selfie camera, jumping from 30fps to 60fps, for noticeably sharper front-facing images and videos. Galaxy S23 Ultra’s S Pen makes it easy to take group photos without setting a timer. According to Samsung, the S23 Series is equipped with the most powerful chipset in any Galaxy device. With close collaboration with Qualcomm, it offers the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy which unleashes a future-ready mobile gaming experience and powerfully sustained gameplay. The GPU also enables a ray tracing module that makes the gaming experience immersive making PC like experience. The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s expansive display is the best and brightest visual experience on a Galaxy smartphone. The Galaxy’s unique Enhanced comfort lets you enable softer settings to help the screen go easy on your eyes in dim light as the Galaxy S23 series’ contrast ratios are designed to reduce eye strain. For the best viewing experience, Galaxy S23’s display is brighter than ever. Its peak has increased to 1,750 nits (from 1,300 nits). With a vision booster, our intelligent display adapts to the lighting of the environment with 3 levels of brightness and color adjustments. According to Samsung, the S23 series phones are UL ECOLOGO certified which implies that the product has been certified for reduced environmental impact. "To eliminate single-use plastics, the Galaxy S23 series comes in a redesigned box made with paper that is 100 percent recycled as sustainably sourced," informed the company. The Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ now have bigger batteries increased by 200mAh each while maintaining the sleek design.  According to the company, the Galaxy S23 Ultra powers a 5,000 mAh battery which lets users stream, game, scroll, film and multitask effortlessly. Price