TICC established

Department of Tourism, under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has started an initiative to gather information about tourists who have gone missing, are dead or injured in the devastating earthquake and the avalanche in the Himalayan region due to the quake. ntb

A meeting held today at the department decided to set up a Tourist Information Coordination Centre (TICC), where people from anywhere in the country can provide information on tourists who are missing, dead or injured at the toll free number ‘1144’. People can inform Tourist Police through that toll free number.

For better coordination, Rukesh Tandukar, in-charge of Tourist Police Unit and Sarad Pradhan (contact number 9851077385) of Nepal Tourism Board will be available at all times to gather information.

The centre will work directly under Director General of the department, Tulasi Prasad Gautam. It will gather information in coordination with Tourist Police, Department of Immigration, Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal, Nepal Mountaineering Association, Nepal Association of Tour and Trekking Agents, and Hotel Association Nepal. TICC will promptly convey the message to the rescue and relief team of the government.

This initiative is expected to address queries of foreign missions in Nepal whose citizens were visiting the country at the time of the devastating earthquake. Thousands of tourists are still unaccounted for, as per various foreign missions.

The European Union (EU) said at least 1,000 EU citizens so far are unaccounted for after the quake. Talking to The Himalayan Times, EU Ambassador to Nepal, Rensje Teerink said they did not know where their citizens are in the country. “Many could have left the country unharmed, however, it hasn’t been brought to our notice.”

source:the himalayan times

China may build railway to Nepal, with tunnel through Mount Everest

China may build railway to Nepal, with tunnel through Mount Everest

China is considering building a railway to Nepal with a possible tunnel through Mount Everest, state media said Thursday, as Beijing courts a country India regards as firmly within its sphere of influence.

china-nepal-Everest

A passenger train travels the Qinghai-Tibet railway, about 100 km northwest of the city of Lhasa, in this file image from 2008. | JAN REURIK / CC-BY-SA-2.0

The Qinghai-Tibet railway already links the rest of China with the Tibetan capital Lhasa and beyond, and an extension running as far as Nepal’s border is already underway, the China Daily newspaper said.

It quoted a Tibet official as saying construction as far as the border will be complete by 2020. It also quoted an expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering as saying the extension was made “at Nepal’s request.”

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited Kathmandu in December and, according to Nepalese reports, said the line could eventually be extended to the Nepalese capital and further, potentially providing a crucial link between China and the huge markets of India.

Such a plan could see a tunnel being built under Mount Everest, the China Daily said.

“The line will probably have to go through Qomolangma so that workers may have to dig some very long tunnels,” expert Wang Mengshu told the newspaper, referring to Everest by its Tibetan name.

He said that, due to the challenging Himalayan terrain with its “remarkable” changes in elevation, trains on any line to Kathmandu would probably have a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

The proposal underscores China’s influence in the impoverished Himalayan nation, where Beijing has for years been building roads and investing billions of dollars in hydropower and telecommunications.

Chinese tourism to Nepal, which is home to eight of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 metres, is also climbing.

Beijing’s increasing role has raised alarms in New Delhi that China, already closely allied to Pakistan, is forging closer economic ties with Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal in a deliberate strategy to encircle India.

In an apparent counter-move, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged late last year that South Asia’s largest economy would fund a series of regional investments and free up its markets to its neighbours’ exporters.

But India has struggled to compete with China’s financial muscle.

Chinese plans to expand the rail network in Tibet have also come under criticism from rights groups including the International Campaign for Tibet, which has warned of the project’s “dangerous implications for regional security and the fragile ecosystem of the world’s highest and largest plateau.”

“The Chinese government’s claim that rail expansion on the plateau simply benefits tourism and lifts Tibetans out of poverty does not hold up to scrutiny and cannot be taken at face value,” ICT president Matteo Mecacci said in a statement last year.

Source: japantimes.co.jp

Nepal and China sign agreement to Develop Mountain Tourism

Nepal and China have signed an agreement to promote bilateral cooperation in the areas of mountaineering and tourism.

President of Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) Ang Tshering Sherpa and Leader of Delegation and General Secretary of China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA), Zhang Min Sien, yesterday signed the protocol agreement in presence of Tourism Secretary Suresh Man Shrestha.

Everest-KalaPatthar

The agreement aims to exchange projects by sharing information on mountain climbing and other techniques. Information related to mountain environment and its effects on climate would also be shared. The agreement would also promote exploration of ideas and approaches to boost tourism in both the countries.

In a bid to make mountaineering a safe profession, training and rescue techniques would also be exchanged between the nations, a joint statement released by NMA and CTMA said. Common issues and agendas affecting mountain tourism would also be explored, the statement said. In order to develop creative mountain climbing activities, it is very important that CTMA and NMA deepen their friendship by forging mutual understanding, it said.

“The friendly relationship between the two organizations will help in providing livelihood to the people residing in the mountain region of both the countries,” said Ang Tshering Sherpa, President of NMA.

For More Information About Nepal: http://www.samratgroup.org/

Source: The Economic Times