Kathmandu. President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Anjan Shrestha said the current situation is very challenging.

He claimed that there is no investment environment in Nepal at present. He said that the problems faced by the concerned sector should be resolved for investment.

He said that the problems of real estate entrepreneurs have not yet been explained to the government. President Shrestha said that although Nepal LDC is trying to be upgraded, the FNCCI has decided to extend the deadline as the government did not create environment conducive for the promotion. He informed that the government has written to extend the deadline by three years.

At the 19th annual general meeting of the Nepal Land and Housing Development Association here today, he said although the budget for the coming fiscal year is expected to make the country’s economy dynamic with the increase in capital expenditure.

Chairman Shrestha said that increasing the expenditure on infrastructure, reducing income tax and emphasizing on technology are positive aspects of the budget. He also stressed the need of ending the trend of people going abroad for employment and importing 70 per cent of consumer goods from abroad. He said that it was a matter of happiness for the entrepreneurs of this sector that the budget has made arrangements for foreign nationals to buy houses on lease and imagined a well-managed city.

President Shrestha said that the Federation would always be positive to solve the problems of real estate business. He said that the federation has already drawn the attention of the bodies concerned to resolve the problem of border restriction.

President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), Birendra Raj Pandey, said that although the overall economy of the country was positive, problems were faced due to lack of conducive environment for investment. According to him, real estate business should be made vibrant to make the economy dynamic. He stressed that the government should involve in addressing the problems seen in this sector to make economy dynamic.

Deepak Malhotra, senior vice-president of Nepal Chamber of Commerce, said that the private sector was optimistic with the formation of a stable government after a long period of uncertainty. According to him, other businesses will move forward only if the real estate business can be promoted. “It is a matter of happiness for the private sector that the new government has allocated around Rs four trillion in the physical infrastructure sector,” he said.