In recent years, Nepal has been hit by an alarming rise in devastating cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and data systems across the country. Just in the last few months, major hospitals like Bir Hospital and Grande International Hospital suffered data breaches, compromising sensitive patient information.
Banks like Nabil Bank and Nepal Mega Investment Bank were targeted by cybercriminals looking to steal funds. Telecom providers like Ncell and Nepal Telecom had their networks disrupted by DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks.
Read more: Nepal’s cybersecurity crisis demands urgent AI-based solutions
As a saying goes: “Wars are much easier to start than to finish.”
This comes true for Bengaluru Smart City Limited Project as developing a Smart City is “not easy as defined” — meaning, that are challenges!
“Yes, there are challenges. But we are steadily moving ahead despite hindrances,” P Rajendra Cholan, Managing Director of the Bengaluru Smart City, told an interaction with a delegation of Nepali journalists, who visited India’s “Silicon Valley” recently.
Read more: NP: Bangalore turning smart, green and vibrant; will Kathmandu follow suit?
Chandragiri municipality has intensified its bid to prepare ‘municipal profile’ by adopting GPS-GIS system. With the completion of this task, municipal residents would receive public services through online mechanisms.
Chandragiri mayor Ghanashyam Giri said, “The task of preparing municipal profile through GPS-GIS system has come to a final stage. It would help develop Chandragiri a smart city. Municipal residents would receive services online with the accomplishment of the task. Locals would also get information about what type of development is needed in which areas within the municipality”.
Read more: NP: Kathmandu: Chandragiri municipality steps up its preparation for ‘smart city’
The first Constituent Assembly elections in Nepal, held in 2008, were an important milestone in Nepal’s political history for they let the people’s representatives write the country’s primary law on their own. But, for Neil Kantha Uprety, an election commissioner then, they were more important because they let the public use electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the first time.
“That was a pilot project, and that proved successful,” Uprety says, “We were excited about its prospects in Nepal.”
Read more: The curious case of Nepal’s reluctance to use electronic voting machines
The Nepal Infrastructure Bank Limited (NIFRA) has reached an agreement with a US-based company, JLL, to carry out a detailed study of the market for a Smart City project in Panchkhal Municipality of Kavrepalanchok district.
The JLL has been given two months’ time for the work.
NIFRA had reached an agreement with the municipality on July 27 to develop it as a smart city. A seven-point memorandum of understanding was signed between the municipality Mayor Mahesh Kharel and NIFRA Executive Officer Ram Krishna Khatiwada for the same.
Read more: NP: US company to carry out detailed study of Smart City project in Kavrepalanchok