Second Nepal Infrastructure Summit in February

Kathmandu, December 21

With an aim to give momentum to sluggish infrastructure growth of the country, Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has announced it is organising Second Nepal Infrastructure Summit 2017 in the Capital on February 19 and 20.

CNI had organised similar summit in the Capital in November of 2014. Railway Minister India Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has consented to attend the summit as guest of honour, according to CNI.

Second in the series, Nepal Infrastructure Summit 2017 aims to attract large-scale private investment in areas of Nepal’s core needs and strengths, CNI officials said during a press conference held today. “As a result of infrastructure deficit, industrial and other sectors in Nepal are lagging far behind compared to other countries,” said Hari Bhakta Sharma, president of CNI, adding that infrastructure summit not only targets to draw big investment in infrastructure sector, but also forge stronger network and alliance in South Asia for seamless connectivity.

According to CNI, the summit will also focus on strategic vision of infrastructure, value proposition, competitiveness and policies, particularly in land acquisition and also consolidate and build upon the achievements of the first Nepal Infrastructure Summit.

With an aim to draw more than 500 domestic and foreign investors, CNI will showcase the project bank developed by Investment Board Nepal (IBN) to investors that comprises 50 viable infrastructure projects.

The summit will also present and explore different barriers and constraints in attracting private and public investment, ways to expedite public-private partnership (PPP) model in investment and financing issues in infrastructure.

Informing infrastructure has been the biggest bottleneck for development of other sectors, Sharma said huge investment in infrastructure is required for Nepal’s target to become a middle-income nation by 2030 and graduate out of status of least developed country by 2022. “This would be possible with high growth rates sustained by productive capital formation, which is possible through active participation of private sector in development activities.”

As per CNI, the summit will gather potential investors as well as consulting partners, legislators, diplomats, thought leaders, consulting service providers, development partners, among others.

CNI has also announced it would gather ideas related to infrastructure development from different sectors of the community in collaboration with Idea Studio to address existing infrastructure deficit and project future needs for country’s development.