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Ambassador of Austria to Nepal Katharina Wieser paid a courtesy call on Minister for energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal on Tuesday.

During the meeting held at the Ministry in Singha Durbar, Minister Bhusal and the Austrian ambassador exchanged views on various matters including mutual relations and cooperation between the two countries.

The Minister thanked the government of Austria for providing support for the renovation of Patan Museum and the garden at Keshar Mahal. She recalled Austria's cooperation to the conservation of environment and cultural heritages and development of water supply projects and tourism.

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Bhusal also stressed on the need of further cooperation between the two countries on climate change risk reduction. She expressed the confidence that the Austrian government will support Nepal in meeting the sustainable development goals by 2030.

Congratulating Wieser on her appointment as the Ambassador of Austria to Nepal, Minister Bhusal expressed the belief that the ties between the two countries would grow in strength in the coming days.

On the occasion, the Austrian ambassador said her country and Nepal can collaborate in hydropower development in the coming days, stating that both countries have similar topography. She maintained that 60 percent of Austria's energy needs were met by hydroelectricity while the remaining was fulfilled through solar and biomass.

Energy Secretary Devendra Karki and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials were present in the meeting. Nepal and Austria established diplomatic relations in 1959.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has underscored the need of formulating a bill on urban development along with utility corridors to carry out the development and construction works in a coordinated manner.

He also called for an end to the tendency of one utility agency to construct structures and the next one to dismantle it after a few days for lack of coordination.

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating a consultative seminar on the Formulation of National Urban Policy, the Urban Development Act and the Utility Corridor Act here today. The seminar is organized by the Ministry of Urban Development.

He said a pilot project would be initiated in some big cities in the coming fiscal year for the implementation of the concept of a utility corridor.

The PM viewed that it is necessary to maintain population balance through the Tarai Madhes-focussed Consolidated Urban Development Programme. “It (the programme) will be expanded to the municipalities in the mountainous and hilly region to discourage migration from the districts of these regions to the Tarai Madhes,” he said.

Prime Minister Deuba said that the duplicity in the development and construction works would be removed by amending and integrating the legislations related to urban development. He opined that there would be a face change in the country’s urban development with the formulation of the Act related to the utility corridor.

According to him, the government will address the problems and challenges seen in urbanization while increasing access to advanced national urban infrastructures through the new urban policy.

“This will help in the proper resource mobilization for urban development as well as in ensuring inter-governmental coordination and urban good governance,” the PM asserted.

Stating that Nepal is among the rapidly urbanizing countries of the world, he said urbanization played a role in the overall development of the country including its economic, social and political development.

PM Deuba stated that although Nepal has been making efforts for systematic urbanization since the Second Five-Year Plan, the cities in the country have not developed as expected. He stressed the need of developing systematic, clean and beautiful new cities and at the same time manage the required infrastructures in the existing old cities.

“It is necessary to urgently start concrete works to bring improvements in the living standards of the people living in the urban areas,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Urban Development has prepared the draft policy incorporating various dimensions of urban development, including major challenges, investment in infrastructures, urban governance requirements etc.

The Prime Minister explained that the draft policy emphasized a coordinated plan formulation and implementation by the three tiers of the government through innovation in the development of advanced, balanced urban systems and investment. 

The CPN (Maoist Centre) has stressed on forging alliances with the ruling coalition in the forthcoming local level elections.

In a circular issued on Monday, party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has given priority to forging electoral alliances and further said that the center's approval is necessary if the elections are to be contested alone.

Dahal said that the recommendation of all the candidates should be made by April 18.

Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma has claimed that the country's economy has not faced any crisis. 

“The country has not gone through any big economic crisis based on the evaluation of available details so far,” Minister Sharma said at a press conference organized here on Monday at his office to brief on the latest situation of the country’s economy.  

Sharma further said that misinformation on the issue was making the rounds with an intent to discourage traders and mislead people and viewed such acts should be stopped. “The government is alert and aware about making the country’s economy function smoothly.” 

In another context, the Minister clarified that the investigation into the Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank, Maha Prasad Adhikari, was conducted in compliance with the law and the Rastra Bank Act. 

A probe committee was formed to look into the matter and further decisions would be taken acting on the report by the committee, according to him.

Similarly, the cabinet meeting on Thursday decided to launch a probe into the Governor, the Minister informed adding that although loan expansion was more than the deposits, it had not yielded quality results for the national economy. 

Urging one and all not to go by rumours about the country’s flagging economy, Minister asserted that country’s economy was moving in a positive direction despite the COVID-19 crisis and ‘struggle’ between Russia and Ukraine. 

According to him, industries were being operated properly and the inflow of remittance was also positively increasing. The country recorded remittance inflow amounting to over Rs 91 billion as of mid-March this year, it was shared. 

He claimed that the revenue collection was also exceeding the expectations. 

In a bid to increase remittance inflows, Minister Sharma informed that the proposal seeking approval for setting up a reserve fund for Nepali migrant workers abroad to invest, set aside the quotas for IPO and FPO, allow the remittance companies to use wallets and reduce the cost of fuel used in the government and governmental agencies had been forwarded. 

Furthermore, he shared that a proposal had been made to temporarily ban the import of expensive and luxurious vehicles and not to allow the government agencies’ vehicles to be used on public holidays.