By Laxman Kafle

Kathmandu, Jan. 4: The Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) has prepared a shortlist of qualified investors for the 14 out of 50 public projects showcased in Nepal Investment Summit held in March last year.
The shortlist of the eligible investors was prepared by completing prequalification process of 14 projects worth Rs. 1,188 billion, said Maha Prasasd Adhikari, Chief Executive Officer of IBN.
The 14 projects are Kathmandu Outer Ring Road Project (USD 1871 million), Lower Arun HPP (679MW) (USD 1,300 million), Nijgadh International Airport (USD 3450 million), Tamor Storage HPP (756MW) (USD 1,271.4 million), West Seti and SR6 Joint Storage HPP (1200MW) (USD 2,407 million) and Sunkoshi-II Storage HPP (1110MW) (USD 1,027 million) and Sunkoshi-III Storage HPP (536MW) (USD 582 million).
The prequalification process has been completed of Integrated Agro Infrastructure, Province 1 (USD 5.45 million), Province-2 (USD 6.1 million), Province- 3 (USD 6.43 million, Gandaki State (USD 5.63 million), Province 5 (USD 6.55 million), Karnali Province
(USD 3.15 million) and Sudurpaschim Province (USD 3.14 million).
Out of total 14 projects, a company for the detailed project report of the Tamor Reservoir-type Hydel Project has been selected,

he said at press conference Friday.
After the Summit, a preliminary agreement with Metrix Company Limited of Korea has been signed for Vehicular Manufacturing and Assembling Plant of which estimated cost is Rs. 10.54 billion.
Likewise, a Memorandum of Understating (MoU) for the construction of China-Nepal Friendship Park in Damak, State-1 at an estimate cost of Rs. 64.61 billion has also been signed, he said.
The IBN has signed MoU for agreement with separate two companies for conducting a detailed feasibility study of Multimodal Logistics Parks to be constructed in Biratnagar, Birgunj and Bhairahawa.
The estimated cost of this project is around Rs. 13 billion. According to IBN, a total of 15 proposals for 10 projects, which were not tabled at the Summit, are being analysed for their implementation.
He expressed hope that the projects would support for the development of energy, industry, transportation and agriculture.
The IBN has been facilitating the implementation of nine projects amounting to Rs. 565 billion.
Out of them, around one third of construction works (dam, power house, and tunnel) of Arun-III Hydropower Project has been completed. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 104 billion.
Similarly, the Hongshi Cement Private Limited which has started its commercial production from 2018 has begun the necessary process for the second phase of production plan.
Maha Prasad Adhikari, chief executive officer of IBN, said that it was essential to construct the Nijgadh International Airport as an alternative to Tribhuvan International Airport.
“The modality of Nijgadh Airport has been finalised which will be constructed under Public Private Partnership (PPP). Request for soliciting proposals is in the final stage. We need a collective effort to carry out the project,” he said.
The issue of chopping down trees has obstructed the pride project, he said.
Adhikari said that the IBN was promoting the Foreign Direct Investment in cement industry even though the domestic investors expressed their objection to foreign investment the sector.
The quality of cement has improved after foreign investors came in the sector, he said, adding that not only quality of cement has improved but also the price has decreased significantly.
The import of cement has decreased by 60 per cent this year compared to last year, he said.“We want competitive prices and make the products exportable,” he said.
On the issue of Upper Karnali, Adhikari said that Power Development Agreement (PDA) for the Upper Karnali (900 MW) was still alive.
Stating that the GMR has already informed the board of the new agreement to sell power to Bangladesh government, he said that the Board would forward necessary process when it would receive information about power purchase by the government of Bangladesh.