Cabinet nod sought for sick industry revival package

The government has taken a step toward granting legal status to a report that recommended a slew of incentives such as loan restructuring and interest waiver to sick industrial units. The report was prepared over a year ago but remains unimplemented in the lack of cabinet´s approval.
The Ministry of Industry (MoI) has submitted the report prepared by Sick Industries Rehabilitation High-Level Task Force (SIR HLTF) -- a committee headed by National Planning Commission Vice-chairman Deependra Bahadur Kshetry -- to the cabinet on Thursday.
MoI, which was earlier entrusted with the responsibility to implement the recommendations of the report, has forwarded it to the cabinet for approval. The report has recommended various incentives and facilities to sick industrial units.
"The ministry has submitted the report to the cabinet on Thursday," a high level official at the MoI told Republica. "The ministry has so far been unable to provide any facilities recommended by the report since the cabinet has yet to endorse the report."
Previously, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council Ministers (OPMCM) had forwarded the report to the MoI for its effective implementation. The ministry formed a technical committee in order to identify sick industrial units. The committee that has the mandate to recommend the names of sick industrial units has recommended three firms, namely Shree Nepal Boarders, Birat Leather and Birat Shoes as sick industries, said the official, who requested anonymity.
According to the official, industrial units declared as sick are entitled to over a dozen facilities.
The report recommends financial incentives like, making arrangement for soft loans, restructuring of loans, providing additional loan from banks if needed, extending the loan repayment date, and incentives to rearrange the bad loans of sick industrial units.
However, the recommendations that are in the report are difficult for the MoI to implement. “Many things should be in place and functional to make this report effective,” said the official.