COVID-19 fallout: Panchkhal Investment Summit stalled

KATHMANDU, June 24 :The Panchkhal municipality’s plan of organising an investment summit within the current fiscal year has relegated to the backburner owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
The municipal executive had come up with this plan and had already started preparing for the event. If there was no COVID-19 crisis, the municipality would have already hosted the event aimed at attracting investment in various sectors of the local economy.
Mayor Mahesh Kharel said the plan for preparing for the investment summit would be made again at an appropriate time in the coming fiscal year after the coronavirus pandemic is gone.
“We had also allocated the preliminary budget as well for organising the investment summit within this fiscal year. Now, we will plan it for the next year,” he said of the municipality’s plan.
Before this, the Tilottama municipality of Rupandehi district had organised an investment summit by any local level in the country last September. In this summit, investors from within the country and outside had pledged investments amounting more than Rs 15 billion.
If everything had gone according to the plan and had there been no coronavirus pandemic, Paanchkhal would have become the second local level to organise the investment summit. The municipality had planned to host the summit in March. It had also allocated budget of Rs 2.5 million for making the preliminary preparations.
According to mayor Kharel the investment summit would be fruitful in the context of various national and international level development works being initiated in the municipality.
Construction of a special economic zone has been started in Panchkhal, the process for calling for bids has been started for the Greater Sunkoshi Panchkhal Water Supply Project, and land has been allocated for construction of Youth Innovation Centre and Integrated and Smart city.
The municipality hopes to mobilise investment special in agriculture and livestock development sector. Mayor Kharel said road connectivity has been expanded in the municipality to all places with high possibility of investment and tourism development.
He said proposals would be brought for attracting investment for modernising the agriculture and livestock sector, for the development of solar power, technology, for establishment of big hotels, the tourism industry and other industries.