Govt identifies sites for handicraft village

The government has identified Dhangadi, Surkhet, Chitwan, and Itahari/ Biratnagar as potential places to establish handicraft villages.

A meeting between representatives from the Federation of Handicraft Associations of Nepal (FHAN), Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Federation of Nepal Cottage and Small Industry, and Department of Cottage and Small Industry has identified a few places in the five development regions where handicraft villages can be developed.

“There was a meeting between representatives from the private and government sectors to identify places from five development regions to develop handicraft villages,” said undersecretary at the Department of Cottage and Small Industry Badri Karki.

The department has also identified the site where Himal Cement is located (Chobhar) and Kharipati (Bhaktapur) as places where handicraft villages can be developed.

According to him, a handicraft village can be developed either in Kathmandu valley or in Chitwan if the private sector agrees to the government’s proposal.

“We have also asked FHAN to carry out the selection process and forward its proposal to the department which will further move ahead with the selection procedure,” said Karki, adding that the government will select the most appropriate places.

At present, the department has identified certain areas where handicraft villages can be developed for the promotion and preservation of handicraft products. Handicraft industrialists had primarily shown interest in developing a handicraft village at Himal Cement Factory, but things did not work out due to various issues.

However, the government later proposed the area occupied by Nepal Electricity Authority in Kharipati, Bhaktapur to establish a handicraft village.

“We are still waiting for an appropriate location where we can develop a full fledge handicraft village,” said director general of FHAN Dilip Khanal. According to FHAN’s plan, the handicraft village would have 12 products with one product having one cluster and 20 enterprises.

The plan also mentioned that the clusters would comprise of metal craft, handmade paper, woollen and silk carpets, gems and jewellery, gold and silver, wood carving, thanka and modern painting, potteries and ceramics, stone carving, pashmina and handloom, traditional garments made of natural fabric, and an auxiliary factory for accessories that are required to manufacture handicraft products.

In the first five months of the current fiscal year, the country observed an increment of 12 per cent in total handicraft exports. Statistics of the Trade and Export Promotion Center (TEPC) reveal that during the first five months, Nepal exported handicraft products worth Rs 170 million. In the last fiscal year, total handicraft exports observed a fall of seven per cent, amounting to Rs 397 million, which was worth Rs 521 million in fiscal year 2010-11.

source: The Himalayan Times,24 jan 2013