Civil aviation, tourism ministry to revamp NAC, NTB

To enhance the effectiveness in the performances of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) and Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has formed two different committees to study and submit their recommendations by three weeks. The ministry has formed two separate committees under the coordination of joint secretaries at the tourism ministry Ranjan Krishna Aryal and Purna Chandra Bhattarai for NAC and NTB, respectively. “This is our effort to make NAC and NTB result oriented bodies of the tourism ministry,“ said spokesperson at the tourism ministry Mohan Krishna Sapkota. “With the passage of time we have noticed the need to make some structural changes in the two bodies to bring effectiveness in their performance and results,“ said Sapkota, adding the two committees formed by the ministry will forward the performance report of the two entities. “Whether they need restructuring, or should they still be operated as government owned bodies or privatised, will all depend on the recommendations of the committees,“ Sapkota added. The board was established in 1998 by an Act of Parliament as a partnership between the government and private sector to develop and market Nepal as an attractive tourist destination. However, after 15 years of its establishment, NTB is looking forward for changes in its rules and regulations, structure and some procedures. “To cope with the present sce nario, NTB is in need of some changes to bring effectiveness and make it more result oriented,“ said director of NTB Aditya Baral. “We are looking forward to the committee providing appropriate recommendations which will support the government in bringing necessary changes in the board,“ he said. According to Baral, NTB does not have sufficient staff for its daily work. “There are only 50 staff at NTB to execute office work but there have been no new appointments. Even the position for the chief executive officer is vacant and now it will soon be two years that the board has been operating without a chief executive,“ he said. “We hope the committee will recommend a more effective process to select a chief executive officer for the board,“ said Baral, adding in the present context, NTB needs to be more result oriented.