Govt prepares to resume closed industries

The government is preparing to run the closed industries, by this fiscal year by unveiling policies needed for this.

Releasing the key accomplishments of his five-month in office, Minister for Industry, Commerce, and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu said on Thursday that the private-public partnership would be taken into consideration to run the industrial estate in a full-swing and resume the closed industries.

"The Ministry has advanced to draft needed laws, procedures, regulations and investment framework," Minister Badu said.

According to him, the government has accorded priority to employment creation and export promotion while running all the industrial estates of the country, giving priority to the partnership of the private sector.

Likewise, the minister pledged effective market monitoring during the festival season and control of unusual price hikes in the goods while ensuring smooth supplies of essential goods.

Monitoring jobs could be made further effective with proactive roles and coordination between all three levels of government.

The government, as the Minister shared, was prepared to run the fair price shops from September 17, targeting the festive season which would contribute to controlling price hikes to some extent.

On the occasion, Minister Badu said studies were ongoing to lift the ban imposed on the import of four goods, adding that six out of imposed 10 goods were lifted considering the country's economic status and reserve of foreign exchange.

The government has still imposed a ban on the import of readymade alcohol, four-wheelers, motorcycles with engine capacity of 150 CC, and mobile phone sets that cost more than 300 US Dollars.

The Ministry informed that concessional loan and rescheduling of the loan through fiscal policy and monetary policy to the affected industries is one of the key accomplishments made in the past five months. Various other schemes of subsidy and grants were also provided during the same period.

Similarly, promotional programs were launched to grow aboriginal products in the mountainous districts, the number of food supplies increased, and efforts were ongoing to control black-marketing of daily essentials.

Prime Minister Production Promotion and Consumption Programme are run with high priority in the current fiscal year to substitute the burgeoning imports of goods, the Ministry said.

Moreover, Minister Badu said preparations are afoot to give subsidies to establish processing industries in the pocket areas for the production of cardamom, turmeric, ginger, garlic, pepper, coriander, cumin, chili, and other spice-like products along with technology transfer for their export.

As shared by the Ministry, a total of 309 industries have been registered in the Department of Industries, and a total of Rs 343 billion in investment was brought in with the commitment to the creation of 28,527 new jobs.

On FDI, Rs 45.16 billion has been received through 295 projects for the creation of 16,905 employment opportunities in the country.

The Ministry also said that country is now self-reliant on cement as around 90 percent of the total demand for cement is produced in the country and some industries have even started to export to India.

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