DHARAN, June 20: Founder member of National Invention Center and Magsaysay award winner Mahabir Pun has said that infrastructures (road and railway connectivity, schools, bridge, Internet and extension of telephone lines) alone cannot help develop our country.
According to him, infrastructures alone cannot make the country prosperous. It accounts for only 50 percent of the development of the country.
Delivering his views at a program organized on the occasion of Ex-Tech Studio Season 1 at Purbanchan Campus at Tinkune in Dharan, Pun said, "The country should export goods abroad through the development of technology and skilled manpower to achieve 100 percent prosperity as envisioned for Nepal by the current government."
Pun was of the opinion that people should be economically rich enough to afford the amenities made available by the country.
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He further said that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) should be increased only by exporting goods.
“The government is now focused only on building roads, bridge, and airport. This is infrastructure. This is necessary but it accounts for only 50 percent of the entire prosperity of the country,’ said Pun.
The country should export goods abroad through the development of technology and skilled manpower to achieve 100 percent prosperity as envisioned for Nepal by the current government.
He went on to say that the only infrastructure development cannot help us to achieve the desired goal as envisioned for Nepal by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli: ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali.’
“We need money to consume electricity, travel by rail. How to earn money? We should utilize human resources and increase per capita income through the development of technology to make it 100 percent,” said Pun.
He suggested that the government develop both the infrastructure and skilled manpower side by side to achieve the goal of prosperity.
Currently, our international trade ratio is at 7:93 percent. We export only 7 percent and import 93 percent of goods, i.e., we earn Rs 7 by spending Rs 93.
Our national economy depends only on remittance sent by migrant workers. Unfortunately, we are not investing even this remittance in the productive sector.
“The money goes back abroad again after we buy house, bike, mobile and import goods," said Pun. We import goods worth Rs 9 billion, of which Rs 7 billion comes through remittance alone.
Pun said that that we can develop our country only by developing technology, exporting goods and producing skilled manpower.
