Govt gears up to introduce new Industrial Enterprises Act
KATHMANDU, OCT 27 -
With the new Industrial Policy already in place, the Ministry of Industry (MoI) is gearing up to introduce a new Industrial Enterprises Act (IEA). The ministry has intensified its efforts for the new act in order to incorporate the provisions of the Industrial Policy 2010.
The ministry has recently submitted a draft of the act to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA) for theoretical discussion. MoI Spokesperson Yam Kumari Khatiwada said the new IEA is necessary as the country’s industrial sector has not been able to receive facilities from the state as defined by the Industrial Policy. “The new Industrial Policy has introduced broader provisions for the upgradation of Nepali industries, but they can’t be implemented with IEA-1990 which is narrow in its scope,” said Khatiwada.
The ministry has formed a committee headed by Joint-Secretary Begendra Raj Poudel for the drafting of the new IEA. Once the act gets approval from the Law Ministry, it will be sent to the parliament for final endorsement.
Poudel said the draft has been prepared in such a way that yearly provisions related to the industrial sector introduced by the government’s budget won’t contradict any of the proposed programmes once the IEA is approved by the parliament. “Apart from tax and revenue policies, no other promises of the proposed act will be violated or changed by the government’s annual program,” he added.
According to Poudel, there should be supremacy of the industrial policy and Industrial Enterprises Act 2010 for the promotion and development of industrial sector. He added that the upcoming act will make mandatory provisions over the issues related to industrial reformation, establishment of Industrial Promotional Board, High Level Investment Board, establishment of Company Registrar’s Regional Office, operation of activities under social corporate responsibility (SCR) by the industries and business firms, including others.
Poudel said the country’s industrial sector has already seen enough apathy from the government due to the obsolete IEA. “Once the proposed act will be approved by the parliament, the sector will directly benefit,” he added.
MoI officials said that the ministry conducted discussions with the private sector and stakeholders and also made some amendments to the draft paper before submitting it to MoLJPA.
Source: Kantipur
