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The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has again called for an Expression of Interest (EoI) from interested firms to conduct a feasibility study for the development, operation, and management of the Electric Bus Rapid Transit (eBRT) in Ring Road of Kathmandu valley. According to IBN, the objective of the proposed feasibility study is to examine the technical, economic, financial, social, and environmental viability of the proposed eBRT system. The notice reads that any single firm or a joint-venture company can apply at the IBN office. The selected firm will have to complete the feasibility study of the eBRT project in 18 months from the date of signing a contract. The firm will have to carry out a feasibility study for the BRT corridor along Kathmandu Ring Road, including the service and operations plan, physical and operational design of the BRT system, traffic engineering improvements, application of ITS technologies, and fare collection mechanisms. Similarly, it has to estimate the scale of environmental benefit while adopting an electric BRT System as well as evaluate the PPP investment modality about the feasibility of the BRT System and recommend the appropriate modality that makes the project attractive and feasible to the investors. The board had earlier issued EoI to study the feasibility of eBRT on November 6, 2022. The deadline for applying for the EoI was December 12, 2022. And, 13 companies from Nepal and abroad submitted proposals. However, it was canceled after the procurement process was found to be inconsistent at the evaluation stage. A senior official of the IBN said that the new EoI was called, canceling the earlier one. The IBN has planned to construct the project under the public-private partnership model. The pre-feasibility study has estimated a cost of USD 153 million (Rs 20.11 billion) to build the infrastructure that will be built under the build-operate-own-transfer (BOOT) model. The government has planned to allocate a lane of Ring Road street for the operation of electric buses. The private sector company will construct modern bus-stop and terminals and smart ticketing, among others. Under the plan, an average of 75 electric buses will be operated on the ring road.

The federal government has urged both provincial and local governments to cut their planned spending by 20 percent in a number of areas while discouraging the implementation of development projects that have not been awarded yet to contractors. The federal government sent letters to the sub-national government after the Finance Ministry itself announced cutting the federal government's planned expenses under similar headings last week. Citing the resource crunch with the federal government caused by a decline in revenue, the central government has asked the provincial and local governments to control their spending as well. In a letter sent to the local governments on Friday, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration asked the local governments to cut their spending in the areas of fuel spending for officer bearers, allowances, procurement of machinery, repair, and maintenance of vehicles, miscellaneous and office materials, notice publication and newspaper subscriptions, staff training, skill development, and awareness training and for organizing various workshops and seminars, monitoring and expenses activities, consultancy, furniture, and structural improvement of built building, among others. The ministry has asked them to cut spending on these headings by 20 percent and adjust accordingly in the Line Ministry Budget Information System(LMBIS), an integrated financial management information system, through which budgets and programs are submitted to the federal government and get approval. According to the letter, if the procurement has already been ordered, the deduction in spending will not be applied. The local governments have been told to suspend new procurements even for the programs that have been included in the budget and programs of the local governments. If the procurement process has not begun to implement any project, the federal government has told the local government to take the approval of the federal government’s finance ministry. As per the letter, the local governments have been told not to create new job vacancies, or new liabilities to make payments within this fiscal year and not to provide any financial assistance except in exceptional cases. Not only the local governments but provincial governments have also been sent similar letters. The federal government said it has been essential to cut expenses under certain headings and suspend implementation of certain projects because of reduced revenue collection. According to the Financial Comptroller General Office, the government’s revenue collection as of February 4, stood at Rs 485 billion, a sharp drop from Rs 581 billion during the same period last fiscal year. "Besides reduced revenue, the previous government’s decision to increase compulsory liabilities by increasing the salary of public officials and lowering the eligibility age to get an elderly allowance to 68 years from 70 years also contributed to the resource crunch," said a finance ministry official. The federal government’s treasury is currently negative by Rs 90 billion. Citing these factors, the federal government called for a reduction of expenses by local and provincial governments too. As both provincial and local governments are heavily reliant on fiscal transfer and revenue sharing from the central government, they are bound to reduce these costs. The central government had promised a fiscal transfer of Rs 129.46 billion for seven provincial governments and Rs 300.37 billion for 554 local governments when the budget for the current fiscal year was presented in May 2022. Sub-national governments receive fiscal transfers in four headings—equalization grants, conditional grants, complementary grants, and special grants. The provinces and local governments are supposed to get an additional Rs 163 billion through a revenue-sharing mechanism as well. “In fact, resources available for the provincial and local governments have already shrunk due to reduced revenue collection,” said an official at FCGO. Various revenues that fall under the concurrent jurisdictions of federal and sub-national governments, should be shared among the different layers of the government. For example, the value-added tax is shared under the formula that the central government receives 70 percent of total VAT collection while provincial and local governments receive 15 percent each, according to the Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangement Act-2017. Also, the provinces and local units each get 25 percent of the royalties from natural resources such as mountaineering, forestry, electricity generation, mining, and so forth. An official of the Finance Ministry said harsh measures were required to be taken because the central government’s treasury turned negative resources could not be generated as targeted. “We have been making fiscal transfers to the provincial and local governments as per the schedule. So, a lot of resources have been parked in the treasury of sub-national governments. But the central government does not have resources to spend at the moment,” the official said.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 500 per tola in the domestic market on Monday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 104, 600 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 104, 100 per tola on Sunday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 104, 100 per tola. It was traded at Rs 103, 600 per tola on Sunday. Similarly, the price of silver has remained unchanged and is being traded at Rs 1,320 per tola today.

Jhapa is the largest tea producing district of Nepal. Thousands of farmers and laborers are on tea farming. But, the government has been turning deaf ear to address the challenges facing the sector, local tea producers accused. General Secretary of the Nepal Tea Producers Association Shiva Kumar Gupta said the government has not been providing chemical fertilizers for tea farming since 2021. Nepal has been annually earning millions of foreign currency by exporting tea. He said that the tea producers have been compelled to import chemical fertilizers through illegal ways. Those involved in tea production vented their ire at the government for showing apathy towards providing chemical fertilizers for tea farming. The tea producers have been asking for government facilitation in accessing chemical fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers such as Urea, DAP, Potassium and Ammonia Sulfate are required for tea estate. Gupta said the government used to distribute fertilizers before 2020. Since then, tea farmers have not received chemical fertilizers on quota, he added. Tea producers also urged the National Tea and Coffee Development Board to take initiatives for addressing the issues related to chemical fertilizers. They also asked the agencies, including Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Agriculture Inputs Company and Salt Trading to play a coordinating role in addressing the gaps. Gupta said that fertilizers can be provided to small tea producers by registering cooperative dealers and to the big tea companies by stipulating quota through federal or provincial governments. Tea farming is being carried out in an area of 10,500 hectares of land in the district. It annually needs 1,500 metric tons of chemical fertilizers, said Chief of National Tea and Coffee Development Board, Regional Office, Birtamodh, Indra Adhikari. The government was not paying any heed to their demand for chemical fertilizers, commented Joint-Secretary of Tea Producers' Association Binaya Kumar Goyal.