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Kathmandu Tuesday December 11, 2001 Marga 26, 2058.
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Board of Investment to be
formed soon
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Dec 10 – With an aim to
accelerate shrinking foreign as well as domestic investments by providing necessary
services and privileges from a single place, the government is all set to announce
much-awaited Board of Investment (BOI) within two days.
It was informed by Purna Bahadur Khadka,
Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies while speaking at a programme organised by
Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) here today.
"All the necessary procedures regarding the
formation of the board has been completed and the announcement would be made public within
two days," said Minister Khadka.
On behalf of the government, Minister Khadka
also pledged to create conducive environment to boost private sector and accelerate
administrative as well as legal reforms to ensure greater participation of the sector.
"Government is currently working in
formulating a long-term industrial plan with necessary reforms in all sectors so as to
encourage private sector in the process of industrialization," said Minister Khadka.
He also admitted that the weak implementation of
government policies and programmes has been one of the prime causes for the poor
performances of the development projects.
"Lack of coordination among the government
ministries has been problematic in implementing budgetary programs and this has also
fueled in the poor outcomes of the development efforts," he said.
He also underlined that the private sector
should be active in utilizing various privileges offered to them. "In the past also,
government had made several decisions to promote private investments, but they were unable
to get benefits from those steps," he said.
He also informed that the Ministry of Industry,
Commerce and Supplies is going to hold an extensive meeting on this Wednesday to discuss
about the present economic problems and expressed his hope that the meeting would be able
to recommend amicable solution of the problems.
Speaking on the same occasion, Rabi Bhakta
Shrestha, President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI)
said that the government has not been able to pay its serious attention on the various
problems of the business community. "The performance of total national industrial
production, foreign trade, tourism and revenue collection is less than expected clearly
indicating that the economic scenario of the country is worsening," he said.
Referring to the declaration of state of
emergency, President Shrestha said that the emergency period could be utilized to start a
fresh development endeavor and he also praised the recent government announcements aimed
at improving public related works at the government offices.
Shrestha also reiterated that the government
must bring an industrial rescue package to safeguard the dwindling domestic industries.
"Almost all the global economies have announced various kinds of packages to insulate
their respective industries and business from the ongoing economic slowdown and Nepal
should act quickly in that direction," he said. He also stressed that the government
should concentrate on reducing unemployment and massive development of the domestic
industry is the only way to reduce the current level of unemployment.
Pradeep Raj Pandey, a tourism expert, stressed
that the government should concentrate on achieving self-sufficiency on various goods of
daily consumption. He also pointed out that the present Labor Act must be revised to
encourage private sectors’ investment.
Mahesh Lal Pradhan, former President of FNCCI
pointed out the difficult period of textile manufacturers and added that mostly unchecked
illegal inflow of textile has been the prime cause for the collapse of domestic textile
industry.
Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, immediate past president
of FNCCI said that government’s failure to lower swelling unemployment has been the
major reason behind the present problems. He also stressed on the need of anti dumping
duty to protect domestic industries from the flood of imported cheap goods.
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