The government needs to be more serious and responsible in making a favourable environment for foreign direct investment, said political leaders during the first day of the fourth edition of Nepal Infrastructure Summit-2022.

“We are trying our best for a more conducive environment for foreign direct investment and I want to assure this,” said Pushpa Kamal Dahal, former prime minister speaking in the inaugural plenary of the summit being organised in Kathmandu.

“We are continuously trying to make a positive environment for investment and I hope that such an environment will be made in upcoming days,” Dahal said.

“Our first concern is to ensure political stability and a good collaborative environment among political parties because, for the overall economic development, political leadership and command is important,” Dahal said.

“I am trying to create a very conducive environment for the private sector right from the beginning,” Dahal said. The relationship between the government and private sector is going well day by day, he said.

The two-day event is being held with the theme ‘Infrastructure for Growth’.

Vishnu Kumar Agrawal, president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) said that there is huge potential in the infrastructure sector for fast economic development.

Citing a report prepared by CNI in 2019, Agrawal said “To remove the gap in the infrastructure sector and achieve sustainable development goals, Nepal should invest 8 to 9.54 percent of the GDP in the infrastructure sector.

Agrawal said to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals, an average minimum of $20 billion investment needs to be made annually. But looking at the implementation of the budget for the past 10 years, the government has only been able to make capital expenditure of less than 7 percent of the GDP.

“So, there is a need for mandatory improvement in capital expenditure to transform the infrastructure sector,” Agrawal said.

Proper investment needs to be made in sectors such as information, technology, tourism and agriculture as these have massive potential in boosting the economy, he added.

A different expressway for transportation needs to be built which will help to lessen the cost and time of transporting agricultural and industrial products, Agrawal said during the summit.