KATHMANDU (Xinhua) — Nepalese government is planning to showcase over two dozen studied projects in the upcoming Investment Summit 2019, three times increase compared to the previous one held in 2017, to attract more Foreign Directive Investment (FDI), a senior official of the government said recently.

“In the previous summit, there were only eight studied projects. This time, however, we are offering more projects – small and big,” Maha Prasad Adhikari, chief executive officer (CEO) of Investment Board Nepal (IBN) told Xinhua in an exclusive interview this week.

According to the head of the government body, during the second summit slated for March 29-30 in the capital Kathmandu, the projects to be introduced to potential investors include cold storage projects in each of all seven provinces recommended by provincial governments, film city project, bus rapid system in Kathmandu, and Lumbini Maternity Hospital, among others.

There are some hydro-power projects to see the light such as Tamor Hydro, West Seti Hydro, Uttar Ganga Hydro and Arun 4 Hydro. Foreign funds are also expected to pour into the tourism sector such as cable car and regional airport.

“There is an interest to develop an international airport from a foreign government,” said Adhikari.

“We have also called on the Nepali private sector to come up with the projects which could attract foreign investors for possible business to business deals.”

During the last investment summit, foreign investors signed letter of intent (LoI) worth 13.52 billion U.S. dollars. But actual investment remained small.

To provide more facilities for FDI, the Nepali government is working to revise around two dozen laws including Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act before the summit. Key features of these laws are going to be deliberated during the thematic sessions of the event.

At the same time, the Nepali government aims to issue Expression of Interest (EoI) notices related to some hydro-power projects so that investors could participate in bid during the event. “More notices on providing license of exploration of the mines will be issued before the summit,” said Adhikari.

Adhikari said it is good timing to find greener pasture in Nepal since there is a stable government with reform process undergoing and investment environment on the growing hand.

The CEO added that Nepal is again banking on Chinese investors for large amount in the March summit.

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