A day before the third Nepal Investment Summit, the main opposition Nepali Congress has expressed serious reservations over the government’s ordinance approach to amending some important laws. The two-day investment summit kicks off on Sunday.

The party’s attention has been drawn to the decision to amend some important laws through an ordinance by forwarding it to the President, Congress Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak said in a statement on Saturday.

To attract investments into the country by removing the red tape, a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday decided to amend nine Acts through an ordinance and forwarded it to the President's Office late Friday for authentication. An ordinance becomes effective only with authorisation by the President.

Sources in the government told the Post that officials, leaders, and other policymakers have already red-flagged some of the provisions of the Land Act; National Parks, and Wildlife Conservation Act; and Land Acquisition Act. These reservations have been quietly communicated to the President's Office through different channels of which the government is aware, a secretary at the prime minister's office said.

“If the President is not happy with some of the provisions proposed in the ordinance, it is likely that the President will send it back to the government for further consideration.”

The last session of the federal parliament had enough time and opportunity, the main opposition says. “Without resolving the problem of the cooperative victims and other problems that the country is facing, the government decided to prorogue the House session abruptly.”

And the ordinance did not reach the President’s Office by the end of office hours on Friday, clearly indicating a lack of urgency in the Pushpa Kamal Dahal administration. The failure to issue the ordinance ahead of the investment summit has drawn criticism because it does not boost investor confidence, nor does it guarantee to secure their investments.

The ordinance that reached Sheetal Niwas possibly after office time has not been registered, said Kiran Pokhrel, press adviser to President Ramchandra Paudel. He will study the content of the ordinance on Sunday and make a decision accordingly, Pokhrel added.

The Nepali Congress and other opposition parties had demanded to constitute a parliamentary committee to investigate the embezzlement, misuse and fraud of the billions of rupees deposited by millions of cooperative members and urged the government to help the victims recover their deposits. “We concluded that by ignoring our call and denying our demand, the government has engaged in unparliamentary practice,” said the statement issued by Lekhak.

While the government had months to prepare for the investment summit, it forwarded an ordinance by misinterpreting the constitution to the President, the party said, adding that the decision goes against the spirit of parliamentary democracy.

“Such work undermines the dignity and importance of institutions that represent the people and the federal, democratic republican system. The Nepali Congress warns the government not to weaken Parliament by avoiding the House,” the party’s chief whip stated.

If the government’s claim is to be believed, various provisions of the Land Act; the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act; the Land Acquisition Act; the Electronic Transactions Act; the Special Financial Act; the Public Private Partnership and Investment Act; the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act; the Forest Act; and the Industrial Enterprises Act have been amended through the ordinance.

After the ordinance is issued, there will be no legal hurdles to project execution in forest areas, mainly those listed as national priority projects or those approved by the Investment Board Nepal. Payments in foreign exchange will also be easy once the ordinance comes into force, people informed on the matter said.

Easing the registration and operation of startup enterprises, allowing mining and extraction of minerals from forest areas and ensuring uninterrupted supply of construction materials to infrastructure projects are other legal arrangements coming up.

The amendments were decided just a few days before the summit. It was in November last year that the Dahal government decided to hold the summit to attract foreign and domestic investors.

The government in January had constituted a committee headed by Ek Narayan Aryal, then secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, to identify laws and regulations that keep investments from flowing into the country and suggest ways to streamline laws and remove structural flaws.