Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Investment Board fails to move big projects forwad

Nepal Investment Board
The Investment Board (IB), that was authorized to implement mega projects, has not been able to move forward even a single project in around a year of its formation.
The board meeting of IB chaired by the then prime minister Baburam Bhattrari on May 27 last year had identified 14 big projects including hydropower projects, fast-track highway, airport, Infrastructure Development Bank, metro, management of Kathmandu Valley’s sewage and authorized it to develop them along with inviting bids for investment. But none of these projects has moved forward.
The board meeting had directed for feasibility study of Nijgadh International Airport, Kathmandu Metro, Kathmandu Sewage Management, Kathmandu Tarai Fast-track, North-South Road Corridor, upgradation of Tribhuvan International Airport, establishment of Infrastructure Development Bank, and initiation of process to construct a five-star hotel. The same meeting had also authorized IB to develop Arun III (900 MW), Upper Karnali (900 MW), Tamakoshi III (650 MW), West Seti (750 MW), and Upper Marsyangdi (600 MW) through domestic and foreign investment.
The work of Nijgadh International Airport has been stalled while the process of establishing Infrastructure Development Bank has not moved forward in lack of enactment of the Infrastructure Development Bank Act. Similarly, north-south corridor and chemical fertilizer factory have also not moved forward. It has not signed the Project Development Agreement (PDA) with promoters of Upper Karnali and Arun III—GMR and Sutlej respectively—that had signed agreement with the Energy Ministry promising free energy, free equity and other benefits. The board meeting of IB has already approved PDA template for hydropower projects over 500 MW. The agreement reached in February to form a joint company by IB and CWE Investment Corporation of China to develop reservoir-based West Seti project has also not been implemented.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IB Radhesh Pant said that development of mega projects worth billions of dollars has been delayed as they are new in the context of Nepal and claimed that the board was internally preparing to develop the projects though it may not be apparent from outside. “We are signing PDA with promoters of four hydropower projects soon,” he revealed and argued that the volatile political situation has also added challenges to IB to move the projects forward. He claimed that IB will gradually move all 14 projects forward.
The preliminary studies have put the cost of West Seti at Rs 150 billion, Tamakoshi III and Upper Marsyangdi at Rs 100 billion each, Upper Karnali and Arun III at Rs 90 billion each, and Kathmandu Nijgadh Fast-track at Rs 60 billion. Cost of chemical fertilizer factory, North-South Corridor, Kathmandu Sewage Management and Kathmandu Metro has not been ascertained in lack of feasibility study while detailed project reports (DPR) of West Seti, Arun III, Upper Karnali, Tamakoshi III and Kathmandu Nijgadh Fast-track have already been completed. The government had declared 2012/13 as Investment Year and made legal provisions to ensure that projects above Rs 20 have to go through IB.
Source : Karobar
————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

No comments:

Post a Comment