March 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has directed the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) to initiate big projects by creating capital within the country.

He made such remark during the seventh meeting of the Monitoring and Facilitation Committee of the IBN on Thursday (March 10). Speaking on the occasion, Minister Sharma said that the ministry is ready to provide necessary support if the board moves ahead for capital formation.     

“The board’s nature is to wait for investment and then act according to the demands of the investors. This nature of work will not be acceptable anymore,” said Minister Sharma, adding, "IBN should pay attention to investing in big projects by creating capital of its own. We can discuss how we can help set up such fund."    

Finance Minister Sharma, who is also the vice-chairperson of the board, advised the IBN to build capital fund for export-oriented projects by holding discussion with the private sector.    

He urged the IBN to take initiative for the investment in projects capable of contributing significantly to the gross domestic project (GDP) and capital formation.    

During the meeting, the Investment Board had presented work progress of Arun III Hydropower Project and its subordinate projects, Logistic Project, Kaptad Integrated Tourism Development Programme, Tamor Water Reservoir Hydropower Project, Upper Marsyangdi Hydropower Project, Vehicle Manufacturing and Assembling Plant and Huaxin Cement Project.    

On the occasion, the Finance Minister Sharma expressed dissatisfaction over the non-implementation of Investment Board's decision of providing one-stop service to large foreign investors. He was of the view that all foreign investors must be treated equally. The Finance Minister insisted on doing away with the conventional development approach and moving ahead with new perspectives.

IBN Chief Executive Officer Sushil Bhatta highlighted the need of a policy-level decision to come up with special provisions regarding the selection of site for the construction of production-based industries.    

He said that although they received a proposal for establishing an automotive industry from a South Korean company, the project could not progress ahead due to the site selection issue. “Therefore, special provisions through policy-level decision are needed to establish industries through the board,” he concluded.