By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Sept. 8: Chinese investors have shown their interest in investing in another industrial park in Nepal.
The park is likely to be developed in Shaktikhor, previous Maoist Combatant Cantonment Area in Chitwan District.
The Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) said that they were likely to develop the industrial infrastructure facility in Shaktikhor, or government proposed Motipur Industrial Area in Rupandehi District in Province 5.
Maha Prasad Adhikari, Chief Executive Officer of the IBN, said that a team of Economic Joint Committee of China Commercial Stock Enterprises (EJCCCSE) had already inspected both the areas.
“They liked both the areas, but they found Motipur comparatively small. We are facilitating them with the required support,” he said.
It would be the second project of this time to be developed with Chinese investment. Chinese investors are developing Clean Industrial Park in Damak of Jhapa district.
“Chinese investors want to develop joint industrial infrastructure in collaboration with Nepal,” said Li Xuesong, Deputy Secretary General of EJCCCSE, at Nepal-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum organised on Saturday in the Capital.
According to him, Nepal and China will jointly set up a park management committee to carry out comprehensive operation and management of the industrial park.
Similarly, a project development company in Nepal will be set up to manage the overall development and construction of the park.
Li said that China-Nepal Park Construction Committee, property management, supporting commercial operation, pubic service platform, industry cultivation and business development and public relation coordination were the major component of the project.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun urged the Chinese investors to invest in Nepal saying that it was the land of high potential.
He said that China-Nepal railway, Kathmandu-Lumbini railway, electric transportation, industry producing agricultural inputs and induction oven could be executed in public-private-partnership including the government and private sector of the two countries.
“It is also about strengthening the one and a half millennia old relation between the two countries. We want to give priority to Chinese investors in hydroelectricity and transmission projects as well as in other infrastructure development,” said VP Pun.
Likewise, former Prime Minister and Chairman of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ said that Nepal had always benefitted from the development in China.
“The relation has been further strengthened, and cooperation has been increased following the high-level exchanges between the two countries,” he said.
“I would like to inform you that the government has been trying to create favourable investment climate through the creation of business-friendly policies and amendment of the old policies.”
He expressed hope that interactions between the government and private sectors of Nepal and China would be result-oriented and would help in investment attraction to Nepal.
Saying that the Communist parties in Nepal were united and the present powerful government was the result of the unity among the major leftist parties, he maintained that the agenda now was to lead the country on the path of economic development.
Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav said that the transit facilities provided by China has increased Nepal’s access to world markets.
The ministry is also preparing to send study teams that will study the potential of the Chinese route and seaports.
Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh

Bhattarai said that increasing air and road connectivity between the two countries would help in increasing the bilateral investment and tourist arrival.
“We want just 0.5 per cent of the 150 million Chinese tourists who travel out of the country,” he said. He said that the country was soon going to organise Tourism Investment Summit and invited Chinese investors and entrepreneurs to participate in the event. Ambassador of Nepal to China Leela Mani Paudyal said that the Chinese participants in the forum were successful and experienced entrepreneurs who had significant contribution in creating employment opportunities, increasing productivity, substitution imports and promoting exports.
He said that the investors had inquired about the policy continuity, simplified and well-defined procedures and one-door system, and whether hassle free investment and predicable policy and legal regimes were ensured.
Chief Minister of Province 5 Shankar Pokharel, Gandaki Prithivi Shubba Gurung, Province 1 Sherdhan Rai, Karnali Mahendra Bahadur Shahi, Province 3 Dor Mani Poudel and Sudurpaschim Trilochan Bhatta had presented keynote speeches on the investment climate and potential projects in their respective provinces.