KATHMANDU, Nepal– In the long run the government has released mountaineering royalty to the districts, thanks to the initiation made by the Tourism Ministry which helped to end a long-standing dispute in the mountaineering sectors.
Citing a lack of co-ordination between three Ministries – Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA), Finance Ministry and Ministry of Local Development, the government had failed to release royalty to some district since 2009.
The Ministry, issuing Royalty Allocation and Mobilization Directive 2014, informed that royalty has been released to eleven districts concerned.
The Ministry has released the amount to Solukhumbu, Mustang, Manang, Taplejung, Rasuwa, Sankhuwasabha, Dolakha, Myagdi, Gorkha, Lamjung and Kaski district.
Solukhumbu received the highest amount of Rs Rs 317.20 million while Gorkha succeeded to garner Rs 1.15 million.
Provision has it that, thirty percent of the fee charged for mountaineering should be granted to the districts concerned. On the other hand, these districts should invest the amount in the construction of trekking routes, tracks, roads extending to base camps of peak among other physical infrastructures.
Local peoples in some districts had long been asking the government to release royalty through the Ministry of Local Development.
Officials at the Tourism Ministry said the royalty dispute has ended with the release of royalty amount no onward.
In the meantime, the government has received Rs 1.42 billion in royalty from mountaineering and expedition in the last five years. The peaks in Solukhumbu alone garnered Rs 1.21 billion during the period, according to the Ministry.