April 4: The government’s attempt to introduce various laws and regulations before the Third Investment Summit scheduled for April 28 and 29 seems an uphill battle.

The government has been assuring foreign investors there are no legal obstacles for investing in the country and that the country has drafted investment-friendly laws and regulations. However, there are doubts that those laws will be authenticated before the summit.

Although the government has claimed that it would prepare the laws through the fast track, the drafts of 10 laws and 2 regulations are stuck in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies due to the delay on part of various ministries in providing their opinion on those laws.

Officials of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies say that they could not submit the revised draft to the Council of Ministers after the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Forests and Environment did not give their opinion on time. Bills are presented in the Parliament only after they are passed by the Council of Ministers.

Officials of the Ministry of Industry say that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Forests and Environment delayed giving their opinion on the issue of demarcation of land and how to facilitate the implementation of national priority plans in the forest sector.

Secretary Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Mukunda Prasad Niraula told New Business Age that the ministry has not taken any action because of the delay in part of the finance and forest ministries.

The government has already decided to transfer Niraula to the Office of the Vice President. He will take up his new role at the Vice President's Office from Monday. He says that even though laws are being made on the fast track, it is too late.

According to Niraula, since the secretary of the Ministry of Forests and Environment is on leave, they have not received the opinion from on the revised proposal.

If a company needs more land than the limit to expand its business, there is a provision in the revised draft that it can purchase additional land with the prior approval of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation. There is also a provision in the amendment proposal to allow the business entities to take a loan by mortgaging the additional land. The Ministry of Finance disagreed on this point.

Niraula said, "The Ministry of Finance is worried and concerned about whether the land will be divided and sold if the proposal to take more land than the limit is passed. Whether to pass this issue or not is now in the hands of the Parliament.”

A government official says that since the draft law is currently stuck in the ministry, there is confusion as to when it will go to the council of ministers, when it will go to the parliament and when it will be passed by the parliament. As the debate in the relevant committee of the Parliament consumes a lot of time, doubts have arisen that the bill will be passed before the investment summit.

Secretary Niraula also doubts that the laws will be enacted before the investment summit.

The government formed a taskforce in November to recommend reforms in the existing policies, legal structures and procedural system to make the investment climate more favorable.

It has been four months since the task force recommended for reforms. Despite the efforts of the chief secretary, the file has been stuck in the Ministry of Industry for three months due to lack of support from the secretaries of the other ministries.

The taskforce had recommended amending the following acts and regulations: Industrial Enterprises Act, 2076, Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2075, Special Economic Zones Act, 2073, Forest Act, 2076, National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 2029, Land Act, 2021, Land Acquisition Act, 2034, Environment Protection Act, 2076, Electronic (Electronic) Transactions Act, 2063, Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Act, 2053, Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Regulations, 2077, Forest Rules, 2079.

A new government has been formed in the country while the proposed law has not been finalized. Along with the change of government, the current government has also transferred employees extensively.