KATHMANDU, October 18 – The reluctance of the Chinese government to issue travel permits to foreign passengers travelling by Sajha Yatayat (SY) has pushed the future of direct Kathmandu-Lhasa bus service towards uncertainty.
“SY has not been able to ferry foreign travelers to Lhasa since September 27, following the decision of the concerned Tibetan authorities not to issue travel documents to foreigners travelling by the Yatayat,” an official of SY said requesting anonymity.
“Ever since then SY has been ferrying a handful of Nepali passengers, who either visit the place for business purpose or to meet family friends or relatives,” he added.
The official, however, told the Post that Tibet Tourism Bureau (TTB), the concerned Tibetan authority, has been issuing group visas to foreigners who process their travel documents from other travel agencies and has not put restriction on those wishing to travel by air.
“The silence maintained by TTB has put Sajha in a fix. We do not know why the Chinese government is delaying the process of issuing permits to foreigners despite signing of the agreement at the ministerial level,” he said.
The agreement signed between Nepal and China clearly states that buses operating from both the sides can ferry both locals as well as foreign tourists. Even the clause of the agreement which states that apart from Nepali or Chinese citizen, other nationals travelling on the bus will have to pay the bus fares in dollars, substantiates that both the country had agreed to ferry local as well as foreign nationals.
“If the situation continues for long Sajha would have no other options other than terminating the service,” he said and questioned how can SY continue to operate the service if it cannot attain a breakeven point.
Although the official said that overhead cost of operating round trip service is estimated at around Rs 50,000 and Sajha can recover this cost by ferrying 10 passengers in every trip, SY has not been able to gather more than five or six passengers ever since the Chinese government decided to put a ban on foreigners travelling to Lhasa by SY.
“Sajha’s main objective was to attract foreigners who had been paying hefty sums to travel to Tibet by air as we had realized that the volume of Nepali passengers will not be sufficient to yield any profit to Sajha,” he said. “If the venture is not profitable the only other option would be to close down.”
