Nepal Airlines Getting Two New Aircrafts in TWO Months , Pact Being Signed This Week By Sharachchandra Bhandary Kathmandu, Nov. 23: Beleaguered by aircraft deficit for a long time, the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines, is all set to receive two brand new airplanes within two months. The unwavering endeavor of government to acquire new aircrafts and expand domestic service for the past five years has ultimately paid off. Series of consultations and negotiations between senior officials of Nepal and China in Kathmandu and Beijing has resulted in the national flag-carrier attaining two fresh airplanes as grant assistance, from the Chinese government. Under Sino–Nepal Economic Cooperation, China has agreed to provide a 19-seated Harbin Y-12 and a 58-seated MA 60 plane in grant. An agreement relating to providing these planes to Nepal government will be signed this week. Chinese ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai and Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi have been entrusted by respective governments to ink the pact. The government has also decided to purchase four more aircrafts from China with the concessional loan to be offered by Exim bank of northern neighbour, Ranjan Krishna Aryal, member of board of directors of Nepal Airlines and Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation informed RSS. According to him, a pact pertaining to obtaining concessional loan from the Exim bank will be endorsed this week. Two separate accords related to grant and loan assistance will be signed in the Finance Ministry on the same day, said Joint Secretary Aryal, adding that the Chief of International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division, Madhu Kumar Marasini will sign the deal with the high officials of Exim bank. The current fiscal year of China will be over by November. Therefore, China had asked the Nepal government to reach the deal within this month. Acting promptly on the Chinese request, the cabinet had recently endorsed the proposal. The total cost of aircrafts to be received in grant is Rs 2.98 billion while four planes will be purchased at the cost of Rs 3.61 billion. The Exim bank has agreed to offer concessional loan for four planes at the rate of 1.05 percent interest. The Nepal Airlines has to repay the loan and interest in thirteen years in installment. This agreement was reached after discussions with the Chinese officials held here last November. Representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Law as well as Nepal Rastra Bank participated in the discussions. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Finance had expedited the process of purchasing and acquiring the aircraft after the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) gave certificate that the China-made aircraft were suitable for flying in the Nepali skies. Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Shanta Raj Subedi said that the agreement for acquiring the aircraft and taking loans would be done this week. He said this step would help make Nepal Airlines Corporations services reliable and to regain its lost credibility. Besides making the civil aviation sector competitive, it will create a situation in which the private airlines companies would be compelled to rethink about their existing rate of fare, Subedi said. Expressing confidence that the addition of new aircraft in the Nepal Airlines fleet would contribute to promoting the domestic as well as overseas tourism in the country, he said the national flag-carrier which is constrained due to shortage of aircraft will take off again. Joint Secretary Aryal said that the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation was working vigorously for bringing the aircraft to be bought from China within the next six months. He expressed determination to immediately carry out the necessary tasks relating to issuing the purchase order once the agreement was signed.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 13:12:02 +0000
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