Traders and industrialists made their suggestions to a team from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) that had reached Birgunj to collect suggestions for the budget of the next fiscal year. The businessmen asked the team from the ministry to ensure uninterrupted power supply and to not impose unnecessary taxes.
Speaking at an interaction program, the businessmen also mentioned the rise in extortion and said that the lack of insecurity for the industries had seriously threatened industrial operations in Birgunj, which contributes some 40 percent of the revenue to the government and houses more than 200 large industries.
The businessmen also urged the government to create an industry-enabling environment, and asked the MoF team, which was led by the Revenue Joint Secretary Lal Mani Joshi, to announce special incentive packages to lure foreign investment. They also demanded an end to the double taxation system and to the taxing of scrap items; they also asked the government to expedite the construction of a special economic zone in the area, to extend the railway line up to Amlekhgunj from the dry ports, to build a fast-track road to Kathmandu and to announce special schemes to revive the sick industries in the Birgunj-Pathalaiya corridor.
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