Investment Board has its plate full, finally
KATHMANDU, MAY 27 -
After remaining without work for the last six months, the Investment Board (IB) now has enough on its plate.
The second meeting of the board chaired by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on Saturday entrusted IB with the job of developing 14 national pride projects, including five hydropower and seven infrastructure projects.
Established as a high-level agency to work towards attracting foreign investments for mega projects and provide potential investors a one-window solution, IB had not been able to start full-fledged work for two reasons—delay in the endorsement of its regulation and absence of projects under its purview.
The board meeting on Saturday also endorsed the regulation, paving the way for IB to hire staff and expand its areas of operations. “The regulation has paved the way for the board to exercise its authorities,” said IB Chief Executive Officer Radhesh Pant.
The regulation consists of the process of facilitating investors, criteria for implementing projects and incentive packages for investors.
According to Pant, the board will develop the 14 projects handed to them in collaboration with ministries concerned. The major projects that have been handed to IB are West Seti, Upper Karnali, Arun III and Tamakoshi III, Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track, Mid-Hill Highway, Kathmandu Metro Rail Service and North-South Corridor Roads. These mega projects have been brought under the purview of IB as per Investment Board Act that allows the board to take charge of hydropower projects above 500 MW and infrastructure projects worth over Rs 10 billion.
According to Pant, these projects would bring in foreign investments to the tune of $15 billion.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Bhattarai asked the board to begin work on power development agreements (PDA) of five hydel projects — West Seti, Upper Karnali, Upper Marshyangdi, Arun III and Tamakoshi III, according to Pant.
Except for West Seti, work on all other projects has been stalled due to the delay in PDA negotiation. With these projects coming under the board, the PDA process is expected to expedite.
As for the 750-MW West Seti, the Prime Ministers’ Office (PMO) has already given the board the responsibility of concluding PDA negotiation with China Three Gorges International. The board recently submitted a detailed work plan on West Seti to the government and is currently drafting the PDA model for the project. IB will be in a position to negotiate with CTGI by October, Pant said.
The Prime Minister has also asked the board to start negotiations with foreign investors for seven infrastructure projects, including Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track, Second International Airport, Up-gradation of Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu Metro Rail Service, North-South Corridor Roads and Mid-Hills Highway, according to Pant.
After earlier attempts for calling expressions of interests (EoI) for the Fast-Track failed, the government is planning a fresh EoI for the 76-km express road linking Kathmandu with the southern plains within the current fiscal year.
The board has also been given the job of finding investors to build two five-star hotels on land belong to the Nepal Trust. The trust has been managing land belonging to former King Birendra Shah. Saturday’s meeting also asked the board to work on establishing a large-scale chemical manufacturing industry.
Pant said the board will now start selecting investors as international investors have expressed interests to invest in these projects. “We will now start formal discussions with them and put transparency on the top while holding negotiations.”
The stalled effort on establishing Infrastructure Development Bank is also expected to move ahead with the board being given the responsibility. The work on setting up the bank was started five years ago under private sector banks’ initiative.
With the regulations in place, the board is planning to prepare a strategy paper to attract foreign direct investment. “So far, we do not have strategies to make it easy for foreign investors in Nepal and safeguard their investments here,” said Pant, adding that the strategy paper would be finalised promptly to effectively
execute projects. The board, according to Pant will hire investment experts to execute these projects. “These experts could be Nepali or foreigners,” said Pant.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
