Bhairahawa hoteliers will not pay interest to bank

BHAIRAHAWA, Oct 18: The hoteliers, who have been demanding the government to increase the time period for paying the bank installments and bring a rescheduling, will not pay the principal and interest installments of the banks and financial institutions due in the month of October after the demand is not met. Only two days ago, the tourism businessmen of Pokhara also decided not to pay the bank installments.

Chandra Prakash Shrestha (CP), president and central member of the hotel association, said that the meeting of Siddharth Hotel Association Nepal (SAN) decided not to pay the installments to the banks and financial institutions for the month of October.

"The hotel business, which has been completely affected for more than 2 years due to the earthquake of 2072, the subsequent long strike and the coronavirus infection since February 2076, was slowly starting to recover," he said, "We are trying to figure out how to recover the business, but the bank is discouraged. Doing so is reducing our enthusiasm and morale.” He said that the businessmen are under mental stress when the bank is asking for interest.

Businessmen have said that it will take at least 4 more years for this area to return to normal condition if there is no epidemic or calamity. Businessmen have said that they have demanded to push the interest payment on time after at least 2 years.

Ram Bahadur Koiri, a member of the association and managing director of Hotel Maurya, said that the government has not taken any appropriate steps for the upliftment of the tourism business. "The situation of the hotel business is not good now, we are trying to rise above the crisis, we have asked for time to pay the loan, we have not said that we will not pay, but neither the government nor the bank could hear from us, we were not able to pay the installments, so we were forced to take this decision," Koiri said. They also say that if the government takes any action, the bank will be forced to protest and hand over the keys to the hotel business to the government.

Tourism businessmen have been demanding that the loan interest rate should be reduced to 1 point, the additional relief program should be extended for at least 3 years and the duration of the refinance fund should be extended. They demand that the bank bring a reschedule for the end of June.

There is an investment of more than 50 billion in the hotel sector in Bhairahawa, Lumbini, Tilottama, Butwal etc. in Rupandehi district. 2 five-star hotels are operational in Tilottama and Lumbini, while 3 five-star hotels are under construction in Bhairahawa. There are dozens of four star, three star and tourist level hotels in Rupandehi.