 |
Kathmandu Thursday November 23, 2000 Mangshir 08, 2057.
|
Umbrella policy to lure
more private investment
By Binaj Gurubacharya
KATHMANDU, Nov 22 - To complement the work of
a high-level committee headed by the Prime Minister formed to take speedy decissions on
investment proposals, the government has adopted an important umbrella policy that, it
hopes will help attract private investments.
The Public Infrastructure Construction,
Operation and Transfer Policy (PICOT) has been brought by the prime minister’s office
to help the Fast Track Committee headed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. The
Committee was formed about three months back, targeting the growing number of applications
and interest by both local and foreign investors in the public sector.
"To achieve high growth as we target,
the government investment alone is not enough. We definitely need private and foreign
investments and this would be an umbrella policy to govern such investments," Vice
Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Prithvi Raj Legal told The Kathmandu
Post.
Over the past few years, successive
governments have done their best to attract foreign investors accommodating the pledge in
their annual programmes and policies and fiscal budget documents.
With this policy, investors would be able to
Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) or Build, Operate, Own and Transfer (BOOT)
infrastructures for public service.
Most of the applications for investment have
been for the massive hydro-electricity potential with over half a dozen investors already
applying to invest. Though investments will be under the hydro-electricity policy, PICOT
would be the encompassing policy for all these investments.
Besides hydropower, there are at least five
other projects in the pipeline in which private investors have shown much willingness to
invest and operate.
One of the major projects under this policy
is the Kathmandu-Hetauda tunnel project that would link the capital city directly with the
southern plain land partly through a tunnel which would cut down on time and distance.
The investor who has expressed interest in
the tunnel project proposes to collect a toll from vehicles for the agreed period. The
project has been stalled for the moment with the investor demanding a guarantee from the
government before taking up the costly detailed survey. The government has remained
reluctant to oblige.
The other project is the conversion of
Lumbini airport into an international airport, a project that has been long due, but which
has now been taken over by a French investor. Next in line is Pokhara airport.
Applications for this project have already been sought by the government.
This policy would cover investments for road,
bridge, airport, development of communications, drinking water, irrigation and electricity
projects.
Investors will be able to build and operate
for up to 30 years with provision that five more years can be added to that time period by
the government.
In return, they will be able to charge tolls
on roads and bridges, whilst in the airports, they will be able to command landing
charges, parking fees and airport taxes.
Like the hydro-power policy drafted by the
Ministry of Water Resources, each ministry would have supplementary policy detailing
specifics.
According to a senior government minister the
concept was first initiated just weeks before the election when a coalition of major
political parties were in power. "The country was not even familiar with the concept
of BOT, so to accelerate high-priority projects through the Fast Track Committee we needed
this umbrella policy," the minister said.
And since the committee is headed by the
prime minister, it would be easy for the investors to apply and for the government to
coordinate.
"The policy would allow the government
to eventually concentrate on the social sector while the development part would go to
private investors," Legal said.
Other Stories
|
