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Kathmandu Tuesday September 25, 2001 Ashwin 09, 2058.
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Govt to review industrial policy
More private participation to be ensured
By Prem Khanal
KATHMANDU, Sept 24 – The government has formed a
high-level task force to formulate policies to ensure more effective participation of the
private sector in the process of industrialisation.
The task force, headed by Govinda Prasad Kusum, joint
secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, will submit a report within
the next six months, a ministry official said.
Plagued by the less-than-expected outcome of the present
industrial policy and to incorporate necessary policies to ensure more effective
participation of the private sector, the government has decided to review the Industrial
Policy 1992. Though the government had high hopes on the private sector’s
participation in the industrial sector, the present policy has failed to guarantee the
expected participation from them.
According to the Ministry sources, the ongoing reviewing
process would concentrate on gearing up the industrial activities through effective
industrialisation process in accordance with the long–term development approach.
A task force comprises representatives of government bodies
and private organisations like Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(FNCCI) and Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC).
The policy-reviewing task force began its work about a week
ago under the co-operation of Small Industrial Promotion Project (SIP-P) of the Swiss
Development Co-operation (SDC). Experts from SDC and SIP-P will also contribute in the
reviewing process.
Ek Bahadur Gurung and Leon Houdret from the SDC and SIP-P
respectively are also the members of the task force, a source said. The recently held
consultative meeting of the team has also finalised the modalities of the task force.
In addition, the new policy would be focused on accelerating
the open and liberal economic policy of the government by restructuring the one window
policy to stimulate Foreign Direct Investment.
Similarly, it would also recommend investment friendly
programs and policies to encourage local industrial investment.
The Ministry sources also said that the upcoming review in
the industrial policy would also be directed towards achieving the national goal of
poverty alleviation as the government has again pinpointed the poverty alleviation as the
sole objective of the upcoming Tenth Plan.
The team would also evaluate the policy and procedural impact
of the existing policy particularly on the Small and Medium Enterprises, which has been
facing hard times due to lack of protection mechanism, incentives and institutional
support, the source informed The Kathmandu Post.
Similarly, the policy will also conduct in-depth analysis of
the existing industrial policies of the SAARC countries and would recommend necessary
policies to protect domestic industries and to enhance their competitiveness to survive
under the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area).
The task force would pay due attention on the repeated
complaints of the private sector that the present Labour Act has unnecessarily empowered
labours, which, according to the concerned entrepreneurs, has been one of the prime
hurdles in creating a conducive environment for industrial development and investment.
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