NT to provide Rs 1bn support for reconstruction

KATHMANDU:

Nepal Telecom (NT) has expressed its commitment to spend one billion rupees in the next three years to rebuild infrastructure having historical and archaeological importance that were damaged by the devastating earthquake of April 25.

The support plan committed by NT on Sunday also includes reconstruction of community schools damaged by the earthquake. Based on the direction of the government and its

reconstruction plans, NT will focus on reconstruction of Dharahara, Manakamana Temple, Swayambhunath Temple, and the Bhaktapur and Lalitpur Durbar Squares.

“We have prioritised rebuilding some of the important infrastructure like Dharahara and Manakamana Temple,” said Buddhi Acharya, managing director of NT.

As per him, the investment modality for the reconstruction would depend on the government fixed implementation modality. However, the committed amount would not be contributed to the government relief fund.

Recently, private sector telecom company, Ncell had also made a commitment to spend one billion rupees in infrastructure rebuilding projects in the next three years. Similarly, the parent company of Ncell, TeliaSonera had made a commitment to provide $1 million. The government and Ncell are yet to reach a decision on how to utilise the fund.

As part of its support to the government, Nepal Telecom on Sunday also made a contribution of Rs 277.62 million to the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund. Sunil Bahadur Malla, secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications, who is also chairman of NT Board handed over a cheque of Rs 250 million to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala.

Similarly, a cheque of Rs 27.54 million was handed over to Koirala by Buddhi Acharya, managing director of NT. The sum was a contribution from the salary of NT employees. An additional amount of Rs 81,600 (allowance of board members for three meetings) was contributed in the fund as immediate support.

Meanwhile, NT said that it provided services — local and international calls, SMS and data — worth Rs 1.46 billion to all customers in GSM and CDMA network for free for 132 hours starting noon on April 25.

On an average, NT earns Rs 100 million from its services per day which translates to

Rs 4.1 million per hour, as per NT officials. “Service use went up remarkably as it was a time of urgent need,” said Subash Chandra Shah, deputy managing director of NT.

Source: THT