Kathmandu, Mar. 25: Former Prime
Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Saturday said that country needed long term
planning for sustainable development, and any obstacles that come in the way of
development should be discouraged.
"There is conspiracy in not
approving large-scale projects while some forces are always trying not to let
large scale projects and investment come to Nepal," he said while addressing
a workshop on 'Development and Prosperity' organized by the Department of
Foreign Affairs of the CPN-UML at Kathmandu School of Law, Bhaktapur.
He leads the Department of
Foreign Affairs of the party.
According to Nepal, in order to take
the country on the path of development, major laws and policies should be amended
to create conducive environment for large-scale projects. "Failing to do
so means the development will be like a chimera."
"Development planning
should be far-sighted. I saw a single-lane bridge on the way while I was
travelling to Jajarkot a couple of days ago. Such myopic development plan
should be corrected," he said.
Sharing his experience as the
Prime Minister, Nepal criticized the bureaucracy for being sluggish.
"Bureaucracy is not
development-oriented, and sometimes the court had also halted the development
works. When our government had planned to expand the road from Maitighar to
Bhaktapur about two decades ago, the Everest Hotel filed a case at the court
and the latter issued a stay order. The trend is ever growing," he said.
Former Finance Minister Surendra
Pandey presented a paper on the Development model for Nepal.
President of SAARC Chamber of
Commerce and Industry Suraj Vaidya, economist Dr. Bijaya Poudel, sociologists
Hari Sharma and Dr. Suresh Dhakal, and lawyer Yuba Raj Sangraula commented on
the work-paper.
Former minister Keshav Badal,
former member of the National Planning Commission Dr. Bhim Neupane, lawmaker
Lalbabu Yadav, former parliamentarians Dr. Dilli Raj Khanal, Hari Bairagi
Dahal, governance expert Dr. Khim Lal Devkota and other experts also expressed
their views on the topic.
Similarly, in the second session
of the programme, former vice-chairman of the NPC and governor of Nepal Rastra
Bank Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada presented a paper on 'Nepal's economic development:
challenges and opportunities'.
The session was chaired by
vice-chairman of UML Bhim Rawal.
Technology expert Mahabir Pun,
agriculture expert Dr. Durga Dutta Dhakal, tourism expert Prachanda Man
Shrestha, water resources expert Surya Nath Upadhyaya and banker Chandra Dhakal
commented on the paper.
No comments:
Post a Comment