Running against time, IB formally invites project proposals
KATHMANDU, JAN 08 -
The Investment Board (IB) on Monday formally invited project proposals from domestic and international promoters to select financially and economically viable projects after its previous bids failed to attract any.
The IB has sought project proposals for seven major areas including hydro power, tourism, agriculture, mining and minerals, health and education, communication and information technology (IT) and other infrastructure projects like, road, airport, bridges and alternative energy.
The proposals have been called in as per the government’s decision to prioritise them during the Nepal Investment Year (NIY) 2013.
“Impact on economic and social development, promoter strength, financial viability, impact on environment and government finances, job creation, technology transfer, skill transfer and ease of implementation will form the basis of selection,” reads the IB proposal notice published in major daily newspapers on Monday.
The value of the investment projects has been set at Rs 1 billion, the IB says, “However, investment projects that worth below this benchmark amount will also
be considered so long as they promote local socio-economic development.”
A source at the IB said that the proposals have been invited to promote and market the selected projects in the national and international markets with a view to attract both local and foreign investment during the NIY.
The IB has long been working to select 50 mega investment projects and to concentrate investment on them during the NIY. However, the board has neither identified any of the focus projects nor has the government implemented the NIY as committed previously.
The board formally asked the stakeholders to come up with their local projects after it failed to receive adequate cooperation from private sector representative bodies in selecting viable projects, according the IB source.
“We could not receive project proposals because of the weak promotion,” said the source, “So we have published notice on mass media, formally inviting proposals.”
Though the board was making efforts to select some projects on its own, Chief Executive of IB Radhes Pant said that the notice had been published to include the local level projects which have been marginalised so far.
“There might be many unidentified projects in remote places of the country which might not have yet attracted the government’s attention. The board wants to ensure that such viable projects are not excluded,” said Pant, adding that the board has already identified more than fifty potential projects in a bid to ensure maximum foreign investment in the country.
The NIY is one of ambitious programmes of the present government that seeks to double foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country. Though the Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai-led government had reiterated to mark the year 2012-13 as the NIY, the IB source said that the NIY would be formally launched in 2013, while the year 2012 passed by making preparations for the campaign.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
