August 23:  The government has invested more than Rs 1 billion in four years since launching the concept of industrial villages to develop micro, domestic and small industries at the municipal level. Although the government has declared more than 105 industrial villages since the approval of the procedure in 2018, it has so far failed to build the required industrial infrastructure.

This programme was officially started after the Council of Ministers approved the 'Industrial Village Declaration and Operation Procedure-2075' in March 2018. Since then, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has already spent Rs 1.05 billion in the first phase of setting up  those industrial villages.

After the recommendation of the rural municipality to develop the industrial village up to the municipal level, the ministry provides a budget of Rs 10 million per industrial village. Accordingly, the investment has been made in that industrial villages so far.

It has been four years since it was announced that the industrial villages would be built by mobilizing local resources, raw materials, technology and skills, but not a single village has been operational so far.

Chandrakala Paudel, joint secretary at the ministry, admitted that not a single industrial village has been completed so far. She clarified that it took a long time to set up the industrial village because the detailed project report and environmental impact assessment took more time than expected.

"There wasn’t any problem about land acquisition because the concept of industrial village concept based on government land," Poudel said, adding that some DPRs revealed that the cost estimate would be more than the allocated budget.

“We will assess the current delay and work to bring the industrial villages into operation as soon as possible,” she added. 

The government has announced the establishment of industrial villages in all 753 local units of the country. The work of infrastructure development for the industrial villages has not been able to pick up speed.

Poudel said that since the concept of creating industrial villages has already started and more than 100 villages have been announced, the focus will be on building industrial infrastructure from the current financial year. 

s