Kathmandu. Chairman of Nepal Communist Party (Maoist Center) and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has said that the country is becoming an investment-friendly environment for infrastructure development.
At the conclusion of the Nepal Infrastructure Conference organized by the Nepal Industry Association here today, he emphasized that the recent investment-friendly environment in the country should be further enhanced.
While saying that even though there is a big political change in Nepal, the program of economic transformation has not progressed in the same proportion, President Dahal said that they are trying to create an investment environment as much as possible. “Compared to the kind of political changes we have made, economic transformation including infrastructure construction has not progressed, but we are still trying our best”, he said, “When I was leading the government, I tried hard to create an investment-friendly environment. An investment conference has been organized to help bring in investments from within and outside the country.
He expressed his belief that the Nepal Infrastructure Conference will also play an important role in creating an investment-friendly environment and that the state will take its findings seriously. Although he is not currently in the government, as the leader of the main opposition party, he was committed to creating an investment-friendly environment and contributing to economic transformation.
President Dahal imbibed the belief that the overall development of the country can be achieved through sustainable infrastructure and thanked the organizers for holding the Nepal Infrastructure Conference since 2014. “Economic transformation is possible in Nepal on the basis of public-private partnership and since this is the basic economic policy of Nepal, the state should take this type of initiative from the private sector seriously.
It is also necessary to programmatically advance the conclusions obtained from such conferences”, he said. Representative House MP Vinod Chaudhary, Investment Board Chief Executive Officer Sushil Gyawali and others participated in the program.
Before that, Ganesh Karki, President of Independent Power Producers Association, Nepal (IPPAN), said that he had set a target of 28,500 megawatts of electricity production by 2035 and said that the target can be met. “Nepal has signed an agreement to take 10,000 megawatts to India in 10 years. We are also negotiating with Bangladesh”. He said, “For that, an investment of Rs. 46 trillion is required, we are ready for 10,000 MW production. Facilitation is needed as a policy.”
Electricity Regulatory Commission Chairman Dr. Ram Prasad Dhital said that the government is going to create a competitive environment. “We have a small capacity of manpower but we are working. We are working on how to create a competitive environment”, he said, “The broadcasting line is going to be developed as a business. The Regulatory Commission is doing its homework on the ‘cost recovery’ model. Production is increasing but transmission lines are not enough.”
Chairman Dr Dhital informed that the model of transmission line and model of reservoir and hydro pump storage is being prepared after discussion with private investors.
