Showing posts with label foreign investment in nepal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foreign investment in nepal. Show all posts

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Marriot International to Start Hotel Operations in Nepal

KATHMANDU, NEPAL

With domestic and inter-regional tourism aiding hotel demand, a range of leading global hotel chains have planned their presence in Nepal.

It was Sheraton at first, and now Marriott International, a leading hotel chain based in Maryland, US. The list does not stop here. A leading FMCG multinational is also planning to establish a five-star property in Kathmandu.

On Thursday, Nepal Hospitality Group (NHG) signed a management agreement with a subsidiary of Marriott International to open a four-star property dubbed—Fairfield by Marriott Kathmandu.
The international brand, Marriott, will look after the management of the Fairfield by Marriott Kathmandu. The NHG is a group company of the MS Group, one of Nepal’s leading business conglomerates.

The proposed 10-storey hotel under construction in Thamel will have 108 rooms and is spread over two-and-a-half ropanis of land. “The hotel will be commercially opened by the beginning of 2016,” said Shashi Kant Agrawal, the vice-president of the MS Group.

“Around Rs 650 million will be invested in the hotel that aims to cater to people who have Kathmandu on their travel agendas,” Agrawal said. “We also hope to attract additional demand for tourism in Nepal by offering the branded, quality and consistent hospitality excellence that the Fairfield by Marriott brand offers.”
With 700 Fairfield properties throughout North America, the Marriott International is continuing to expand into Asia and South America.

Marriott International is a leading lodging company based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, with more than 3,800 properties in 74 countries and territories. It reported revenues of nearly $12 billion in the fiscal year 2012. The company operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts under 18 brands.

Marriott International’s president and managing director, Asia, Simon Cooper, said, “We are delighted to have signed this new Fairfield hotel in Nepal with Nepal Hospitality Group. We have redesigned and configured the brand specifically for the South Asia market and we are excited that this will be our first hotel in Nepal when it opens in the beginning of 2016.”

The MS Group is also planning to open a five-star property in Naxal, Kathmandu. “We have acquired land for this,” said Agrawal, adding that the company gradually plans to make its presence felt outside the capital city.

A non-resident Nepali, Shesh Ghale, is also building a five-star hotel in Kathmandu. The property will be known as the Sheraton Kathmandu Hotel. Ghale’s MIT Group Holding Nepal recently signed an agreement with Starwood Hotels and Resort Worldwide Inc and set the project rolling. Slated to open in February 2018, the 225-room Sheraton Kathmandu Hotel will be managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
Ghale, 54, is on the list of 200 wealthiest Australians with a fortune of $225 million. Ghale had said that he would invest AUS$ 75-80 million in the hotel. The Sheraton Kathmandu Hotel will be located near Kantipath.

The Sheraton Kathmandu Hotel marks the re-entry of the Sheraton brand in Nepal. It had earlier managed Hotel Everest as the Hotel Everest Sheraton in the 1980s. After Hyatt Regency, no other international hotel chain has come to Nepal.

In recent years, luxury hotels have also been established elsewhere in the country, mainly in Pokhara, Bhairahawa, Lumbini and Nepalgunj.

These investments make huge business sense as there is optimism in the hospitality industry after the record number of tourist arrivals in 2010. “We have planned investing in the hospitality sector as we see huge prospects in the near future, although the investment environment has not been so far good at present,” Agrawal said.

Source: ekantipur, 31st May 2013
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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Nepal offers huge investment opportunities-Ambassador of UAE

Non-resident ambassador of the UAE to Nepal Mohamed Sultan Abdalla Al Owais, speaking at a programme here today, said that Nepal offers a lot of opportunity to investors.

“In the last four years of my tenure in New Delhi, UAE has doubled its trade volume with India,” he said, adding that the UAE wants to replicate the same in Nepal too.

The New Delhi-based envoy said that a team of United Arab Emirates businessmen will visit Nepal soon to explore business opportunities.

Though UAE is largely known as one of the key destinations for migrant workers, the trade volume between the two countries has also been increasing in recent years.

Nepal had exported merchandise worth Rs 326.300 million to UAE in fiscal year 2010-11, according to figures of the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC).

UAE — the 29th largest trading partner of Nepal — had exported merchandise worth Rs 13.61 billion to Nepal in the fiscal year, the data revealed, adding that Nepal’s trade deficit with UAE stood at Rs 13.28 billion in fiscal year 2010-11.

Likewise, Nepal’s exports to UAE in 2012 stood at Rs 322.99 million, whereas it imported merchandise worth Rs 37.66 billion, according to the TEPC data. “On the basis of export volume, UAE is the 19th largest export destination of the country.”

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the largest supplier of gold to Nepal.

Nepal imported some 87.6 per cent of gold from the UAE in fiscal year 2010-11, the TEPC data revealed, adding that the country had imported gold worth Rs 9.95 billion from the UAE, out of the total gold imports of Rs 11.35 billion.

Likewise, in fiscal year 2009-10, the country had imported 68.4 per cent — Rs 28.5 billion out of the total import of Rs 40 billion — gold from the UAE.

Besides gold, major imports from UAE include edible oil, beverage, fuel oil, petroleum bitumen, and polyethylene, whereas Nepal exports large cardamom, woolen shawls, scarves, and mufflers, among others to the UAE.

“There is a need to enhance trade relations in the interest of both the countries,” the envoy said.

Nepal and the UAE entered into diplomatic relations in January 1977.

Likewise, the then Royal Nepal Airlines started its flight to Dubai in 1985 in transit to its European destinations. Currently, Etihad Airlines, RAK Airways, and Fly Dubai are some of the airlines of UAE catering to the needs of travellers, mostly migrant Nepalis to and from UAE, which is also one of the key sources of remittance inflow to the country.

Source: The Himalayan Times (Feb 4th, 2013)

Sunday, January 27, 2013

US-based companies set to invest in Nepal

A New York-based company promoted by Nepalis has joined hands with a Chicago-based company to provide clean and sustainable energy in Nepal.

The New York-based Nepal Infrastructure Consult (NIC) and Chicago-based renewable energy company New Generation Power (NGP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aiming at enhancing infrastructure and clean energy projects in Nepal.

The New Generation Power aims at providing clean and alternative energy across the world, whereas Nepal Infrastructure Consult will represent the project and liaison with appropriate government, non-government and bi-lateral agencies on behalf of NGP in Nepal, according to president of NIC Suman Neupane.

The New Generation Power and its partners — Panasonic, Martifer Solar, Patriot Solar, Jones Lang LaSalle, Eaton Corporation, Toshiba and Talesun — have commissioned renewable energy projects in the fields of solar, biomass, wind, hydro, waste to energy and geo-thermal energy in various parts of the world.

Over 200 MW of renewable energy projects constructed by them are currently in operation, whereas over 3,000 MW of renewable energy projects are its pipeline in many parts of the world. The NGP, in partnership with Wanxiang America Corp, is also developing a 62MW solar facility adjacent to the Rockford International Airport in Rockford, Illinois in the US.

Likewise, Nepal Infrastructure Consult — established with an objective of bringing potential small, medium and big investors in the United States linking project holders, entrepreneurs in Nepal — aims at helping its clients bridge the gap between their infrastructure needs and financial resources by focusing on public private partnerships and innovative capital financing.

Chairman Dr Chirinjeev Kathuria and senior vice-president (International) Nisha Joshi of NGP and president of NIC Suman Neupane signed the MoU on behalf of their respective institutions.

Source: The Himalayan Times (Jan 27th 2013)