110 companies apply to set up liquor factories

KATHMANDU, OCT 18 -

The government has received 110 applications to set up liquor factories within three months of the ban on new licenses being removed.

According to the Department of Industry (DoI), the applicants include the country’s leading business houses, and their combined proposed investment amounts to more than Rs 18 billion. The Cabinet scrapped an 11-year-old ban on setting up new liquor factories three months ago.

DoI director general Dhruba Lal Rajbanshi said that the capital of the companies applying to open liquor factories ranged from Rs 50 million to Rs 2 billion. “We have submitted the applications to the Industrial Promotion Board,” said Rajbanshi, “It will give the go-ahead to the companies fulfilling the standards set by the DoI.”

As per the DoI criteria, investors cannot establish liquor factories within a 500 m radius of religious or cultural sites, educational or health institutions, national parks and other sites determined by the government. Similarly, the successful applicants are required to implement their projects on a fast track basis.

Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar, senior vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and a member of the Industrial Promotion Board, said that the next meeting of the board would study the documents submitted by the applicants. “The names of the selected companies will be made public within two months,” he added. He said that it was high time the government relaxed restrictions on new permits and allowed existing companies to expand output.

As per the Nepal Liquor Manufacturers’ Association (NELMA), the country imports liquor products worth Rs 4 billion annually while domestic output is worth Rs 11.70 billion. There are 15 large and medium-sized liquor factories registered at the DoI, 10 of which are operating. In October 2001, the Cabinet decided to halt issuing licenses to new liquor manufacturers following strong pressure from the UCPN (Maoist). Since then, the government has also forbidden existing factories to increase output.

Source: The Kathmandu Post