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UCPN MAOIST CLOSE DOWN CHITWAN

Kathmandu, 1 Aug.:  UCPN Maoist closed down Chitwan Thursday.

The forcible closure has shit down schools, businesses while movement of vehicles has come oto a halt.

The party’s YCL threatened closure in six cadres arrested and charged for

collecting donations for elections were nt released overnight.

Parties have complained of forcible donation extortion.

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ARMY TO PLAY NEPAL POLICE IN WOMEN NATIONAL WOMEN’S FOOTBA;

Kathmandu, 1 Aug.: National Women´s League Champion Nepal Police Club (NPC) will play Tribhuvan Club of Nepal Army Friday in the final of the First Chief of Army Staff National Women’s Tournament. Nepal Police Club defeated f Nepal APF Club, 3-1 Wednesday. Nepal Army thrashed Far-western Region 5-1 in the first semifinal. nnnn .

MACHINDRA FC DEFEATED BY LOCAL TEAM IN BHUTAN Kathmandu, 1 Aug.:  Local club Yeedzin FC beat Machindra FC  2-1 In the King’s Cup in Thimpu Bhutan Wednesday. Three Nepali clubs are playing in the Bhutan tournament. Nnnn

THURSDAY MORNING TEMPERATURE IN CAPITAL 21 DEGREES CELSIUS

Kathmandu, 1 Aug. Thursday morning’s temperature in the capital was 21 degrees Celsius.

It is expected to rise to 28 degrees Celsius in the afternoon.

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CPN MAOISTS POSITIVE FOR TALKS

Kathmandu, 1Aug 1: The government on Wednesday yet again sent a formal letter to the CPN-Maoist led alliance calling for talks, and the CPN-Maoist responded later in the day, describing it as a positive development, Republica reports..

This is the third letter sent by the government requesting the group of dissident political parties to come for talks. The dissident group has announced it will obstruct the polls to be conducted by the incumbent chief justice-led government.

"As the government firmly believes that any problem in the country can be solved through talks, dialogue and discussions, I hereby on behalf of the government invite the CPN-Maoist and other political parties concerned as mentioned in the letter," reads the invitation letter undersigned by Home Minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire, who is also coordinator of the three-member government talks team.

Ghimire has addressed the letter to Mohan Baidya, chairman of the CPN-Maoist, which heads the 33-party alliance.

In response, CPN-Maoist Spokesperson Pampha Bhusal, described the letter as a positive development. "We are positive about the government´s invitation for talks without any preconditions," said a press note issued by Bhusal, adding, "We will hold a discussion with the agitating alliance parties in this connection and take a decision soon."

The development cames a day after the Baidya-led party and alliance decided not to sit for talks with the High Level Political Committee (HLPC), which had repeatedly invited the alliance for negotiations.

A meeting of the alliance on Tuesday had turned down the HLPC´s call for talks, saying that the leaders of the four parties were not serious about addressing their concerns.

The Baidya-led alliance insisted that they would sit for dialogue only if there were no pre-conditions.

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WORRY OVER FATE OF NATIONAL PRIDE PROJECTS

Kathmandu, `Aug : As the deadline for submission of Request for Proposal (RFP) document for the Kathmandu-Tarai Madhesh Fast Track approaches, officials have expressed worries over the fate of the national pride project.“, Republica reports.

"The RFP submission deadline has already been extended twice on different pretexts. However, the work progress of the shortlisted infrastructure developers on RFP is not satisfacto”y," said Ananta Acharya, project manager of Kathmandu-Tarai Madhesh Fast Track.

The 76-km expressway links Kathmandu with Nijgadh of Bara.
Upon request of the two shortlisted developers -- L&T Infrastructure and Development Projects Limited and IL&FS Transportation Network Limited, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) had extended deadline by three months on June 21.
The deadline expires on September 21.

The government had shortlisted three Indian developers after evaluating their Expression of Interest in January. However, Reliance Transport Limited did not turn up at the project office even for term extension before May 21. The other two developers, however, sought additional three-month time in June, saying that they wanted to carry out further study after the government issued a license to a Nepali company to develop tunnel highway that goes parallel to the expressway“

"They asked the government to share the risk and make guarantee for the traffic thresho”d," said Acharya.

According to him, the government assured them to address their concern and suggested them to include their demands in the RFP document.“
"We have promised them to extend the lease period under BOOT model and are open to listen to any proposa”s," said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at MoPIT, told Republica. He, however, said the Indian developers might not be interested to invest in Nepal. He attributed low rate of return and unfavorable investment climate for their hesitation to put their money in Nepal“

"If they fail to submit RFP document within September 21, the government will invest on it as it is national pride proje”t," he added.
The estimated cost of project is Rs 76 billion

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