NTB sans chief executive officer for a year

Though it has been almost a year, members of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) are still clueless regarding its chief executive officer (CEO).

The chief executive’s post has remained vacant for about one year after the retirement of Prachanda Man Shrestha on October 31, 2011.

“A board meeting will decide the three members among the five representatives from the private sector to form a subcommittee,” said director at NTB Aditya Baral. “In the last meeting, board members had decided to form a subcommittee in the next meeting but there has been no meeting till date,” he said.

According to secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yajna Prasad Gautam, a chief executive for NTB can be selected within 15 days after the subcommittee

is formed but there is lack of understanding within the private sector.

“The private sector should come forward in mutual understanding and form a subcommittee at the earliest,” he said.

Due to lack of coordination between board members, the NTB board had to face frequent stay orders from the Supreme Court regarding the member selection process. After the final verdict of the Supreme Court, the NTB board is finally complete with five members from the private sector.

The apex court gave a verdict to reinstate the three board members of NTB — Pampha Dhamala, Phurba Gyalgen Sherpa and Tika Ram Sapkota. NTB consists of 11 board members — five each from the private and public sectors as it was established as a public private partnership.

Members from the government are permanent, while membership from the private sector expires every three years. Along with the completion of board members, NTB is hopeful to get a new chief executive.

Due to continuous conflict between board members, NTB has been left without a chief executive for about a year.

According to the NTB board, it will resume the chief executive selection process with the previous applicants.

source: The Himalayan Times,7 Oct 2012