The government has appointed board members at the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), which remained vacant for the last two months.

The Ministry for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation nominated Basudev Tripathi, Rajesh Babu Shrestha, Prakash Shrestha, Bandi Nima Sherpa and Muktiram Pandey as members of Nepal Tourism Board from private sector.

These posts remained vacant after the government dissolved the Board of directors while scrapping the appointment during royal rule.

The NTB’s board comprises 11 members, which includes five members from private sector and six from government service.

Secretary at the Ministry for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation will be the chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the NTB will be the member secretary.

Likewise, the ministry also formed a committee five member committee headed by former member of the National Planning Commission Dr. Yuva Raj Khatiwada to submit recommendation on structural reform of the NTB.

Other members of the committee are Dipak Mahat, Jaganath Thapaliya, Ececutive Chief of the NTB and one joint secretary of the ministry.

Different tourism organizations have been demanding NTB’s restructuring, stating that it has failed to work with the sprit of public-private partnership. The government established the NTB in 1998 with an objective of promoting the tourism industry.

Likewise, the ministry has appointed Pabitra Kumar Karki, Kumar Prasad Upadhayay and Birendra Bahadur Basnet as members of the board of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.