Rs 16 million report rocks tourism ministry

KATHMANDU, Aug 26: How much does a simple report cost? You may imagine that a plain and simple report of about 200 pages would not cost a huge amount. In general, you would be correct. [break]



However, you would be wrong in the case of a report submitted recently at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation by a semi-government agency.



It has been disclosed that the ministry spent the unusual amount of Rs 16 million for the report, thanks to then Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Hisila Yami who took the relevant decision before she quit her ministerial post.



The Tara Gaun Development Board (TGDB) had bagged the lucrative report project and the ministry had not felt the necessity of following rules and awarding such a project through a tender process.



After submission of the report, most officials at the ministry have expressed dissatisfaction over the cost and objected openly.



Officials who are extremely dissatisfied with the cost of the report have blamed then tourism minister Yami and senior bureaucrats of the ministry and alleged embezzlement while awarding the project.



“There is clear evidence of embezzlement while preparing the report. The report is very simple. We could have prepared it for not more than five million,” said an official at the ministry requesting to be unnamed.



Records show that TGDB was given permission to develop a report on ´Home stay tourism development in selected rural areas of Nepal for poverty reduction and trekking trail tourism development´.



Asked about the unusually high cost of the report, spokesperson at the ministry Laxman Bhattarai said, “It was somewhat unusual and it would not have been that way had a tender process been adopted.” He, however, refused to comment further.



Manger of TGDB Shiva Sharan Thapa defended the cost factor, saying that the amount spent for developing the report also covers the cost of administrative work at his office and the managerial cost of the project. Asked about ministry officials´ protest regarding the cost, Thapa argued, “Let them do or say whatever they like. The report was prepared with huge effort.”



The report on home stay tourism was carried out mostly by visiting the surroundings of Kathmandu Valley. The board itself admitted that the related research was conducted at Ichangunarayan of Kathmandu, Nankhel of Bhaktapur, Panauti Municipality of Kavre district, Sattale of Dhading, Tirkeshwar of Nuwakot and Bhadaure of Kaski district.



Similarly, the TGDB team visited Sindhupalchowk, Palpa and Jhapa districts in connection with preparing the report.



The report relating to trekking trails covered six different places of the country. According to TGDB, Khaptad-Mansarobar, Lamidanda-Bhojpur-Namche, Guwalekh-Marlika and Pokharali-Jharna were the places chosen for the trekking research. The report has suggested possible tourism destinations in the respective areas.

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