NEPAL PLANS TO BEGIN ITS FIRST TELEVISION BROADCASTS IN ’86

KATMANDU, Nepal — Television is coming to the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, but the government says that it will buy most programs from abroad because it lacks manpower to produce even the two hours of programming it plans.

Officials say that broadcasts are scheduled to begin next year and are expected to reach 500,000 people around the capital of Katmandu. But television will not enter remote regions for at least two years.

Many people in Nepal have questioned the wisdom of spending money on a television network in a nation where the average per capita income is $135--among the lowest in the world--and color televisions sell for about $1,500.

Critics argue that the nation has more pressing needs. Several of Nepal’s outlying areas are without electricity and people living in remote Himalayan Mountain areas rarely see doctors or receive medical supplies. Outbreaks of dysentery are common.

The government had hoped to establish a nationwide broadcasting system by 1986, but a study by French engineers concluded that the plans were unrealistic.

Instead, the government says a low-powered transmission tower will be erected on a downtown high-rise building allowing broadcasts to reach a 15-mile radius around the capital. Broadcasts will be extended to 13 other districts later, said Tapa Nath Sukla, senior official of the new Nepal Television Project.

The government has earmarked $1.5 million for the initial program.

A customs official at Katmandu International Airport, meanwhile, said an average of 40 televisions were being imported daily.