Economic Survey shows big progress in telecom

KATHMANDU, July 8:



ROADS



In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, a total of 128 km of new roads was added by the government to the existing road network. Apart from that, 205 km of roads was blacktopped to make them all-weather.



The Economic Survey released today by the Finance Ministry stated that a road to connect with Manang district headquarters is under construction and it is expected to be completed in the new fiscal year.[break]



The total length of roads has reached 21,455 km by the end of the review period. In fiscal year 2009/10, 6,669 km of roads was blacktopped, 5,007 km gravelled and 9,417 km of dirt roads constructed.



TELECOM



Telecom services in the country have expanded significantly in fiscal year 2010/11. The number of telecom service providers has increased and new and advanced technology has been introduced by existing providers. About 3,915 village development committees (VDCs) now have access to telephone services. In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, 11,442,318 telephone lines of different technology were distributed in the country.



Till mid-March of the current fiscal year, the total number of customers subscribing to the internet reached 65,327, and those to ADSL 43,547, GPRS 1,977,421, CDMA 181,536, and CDMA Sky Data 2,267,821. Service providers providing telecom and internet services to customers has reached 297.



IRRIGATION



In comparison to fiscal year 2008/09 there has been an increase in irrigation of 18.83 percent in fiscal year 2009/10. This shows that the government has made additional improvements in the irrigation sector in fiscal year 2009/10. Irrigation was made available for 2,961 hectares of land in he hilly region and 22,869 hectares in the tarai in fiscal year 2008/9. However, in fiscal year 2009/10, irrigation has expanded to 5,034 hectares in the hilly region and 25,414 hectares in the tarai.



ENERGY



Energy consumption has increased by 5.5 percent in fiscal year 2009/10 as compared to fiscal year 2008/09. The energy consumption level has increased to 9,911 tons of oil equivalent in fiscal year 2009/10. Data for the first eight months of fiscal year 2010/11 shows the total energy consumption level to be 6,571 tons of oil equivalent. The consumption of traditional and renewable energy in the current fiscal year has remained similar to that of fiscal year 2008/09 and this shows that the dependency of Nepalese on traditional sources of energy has shown no significant change.



The consumption of traditional, conventional and renewable energy was recorded at 84.4 percent, 14.9 percent and 0.7 percent respectively in fiscal year 2008/09. Like in previous years, fiscal year 2009/10 saw a minimal participation of the private sectors in the generation of electricity. By the end of fiscal year 2009/10 only 697 megawatt was generated from hydropower projects throughout the country.



The consumption of petroleum products in fiscal year 2009/10 has increased by 25.2 percent while the consumption of cooking gas has increased by 21.9 percent. On the other hand, the consumption of coal in fiscal year 2009/10 increased by 61.1 percent as compared to the previous fiscal year.

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