Govt hands over 14 mega projects to Investment Board

The government on Saturday handed over 14 mega projects tagged as National Pride Projects to the Investment Board for their speedy implementation.
It also endorsed the long-pending regulations of the board to allow it to recruit required manpower, set up office and lay down appropriate norms so that interested investors could directly approach it by following the stipulated rules.
Projects that have been handed over to the board include hydropower projects like West Seti (750 MW), Upper Karnali (900 MW), Upper Marsyangdi (600 MW), Tamakoshi - III (650 MW) and Arun - III (900 MW). The board has also been tasked to oversee the much-talked 76-km Kathmandu-Tarai fast track, Nijgadh international airport project, Metro Railway in Kathmandu and the project to upgrade Tribhuvan International Airport.
Likewise, the board has also been asked to oversee various highways along North-South corridor, Kathmandu Waste Management Project, Chemical Fertilizer Plant Project, Nepal Infrastructure Bank and establishment of star hotels on government land.
A meeting of the board held earlier in the day which was chaired by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai also passed the Investment Board Regulations, which will allow the board to get a full shape.
The regulations provide a detailed framework for smooth functioning of the board.
Until now, the board´s office was limited to a single room at the Prime Minister´s Office. But soon it will have two offices in the future, said a senior IB official.
According to a member of the board, who preferred to remain anonymous, the board will have one office on the premises of Singha Durbar and another outside. "The aim of establishing two offices is to speed up the work and reduce accessibility hassles for international investors," the member said.
The board, which is supposed to carry out the government´s ambitious plan of bringing in foreign investment worth 1 billion US dollars within the first half of the fiscal year 2012/13, will soon start screening investors who have already approached IB.
"West Seti, Upper Karnali and Arun-III hydropower and Kathmandu-Terai fast track are the projects which will soon find investors as well see speedy work," the board member told Republica.
However, project such as Kathmandu Waste Management, Chemical Fertilizer Plant and North South Corridor will have to wait for some time, the board member added.
The government has announced the year 2012/13 as Investment Year.
Radesh Pant, the board´s chief executive officer, talking to Republica after getting the responsibility of executing the 14 mega projects, said, "We will have to move fast along with sound coordination with all the line ministries and stakeholders."