source: Nepali Paisa
The speakers of the first session of the conference, “Sustainable Development”, were South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future board member Dr. Recon Chang, CEO of Malaysia Minconsult Dr. Dennis Ganendra, Climate Change Center National Research Council of Thailand advisor Robert Dobias, Climate Change and Co-Existing Worldwide (CCCW) President Arup Rajouria presented their suggestions regarding sustainable development.
Kathmandu: Since Nepal is in the initial stage of infrastructure development, the stakeholders have suggested to focus on green infrastructure in the long term while investing. This was suggested by the experts in the first session of the Nepal Infrastructure Conference 2024 held in the capital under the joint initiative of the Ministry of Physical, Infrastructure and Transport and Confederation of Nepal Industry (CNI).
They suggested that there is not much development of infrastructure in Nepal and while investing in it, instead of concrete infrastructure, green development should be connected with nature. They say that sustainable development will be possible if they invest in green infrastructure. They said that while developing infrastructure, it is necessary to go for infrastructure that does not affect the nature, use low carbon raw materials, and use mass transportation rather than private vehicles.
Board member of South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future. Rekon Chung said that Gray Korea felt wrong that it only invested in infrastructure, and now it is going to focus on green infrastructure.
“While developing infrastructure, the social cost of carbon and climate change should also be considered. If we don’t do this, we cannot develop the infrastructure in the right way,” he said. He said that it is also mentioned in ROI, IOR calculation. He says that many developed countries have realized about green infrastructure and are now going to improve it.
Similarly, Robert Dobias suggested that future development should not disturb nature. Similarly, Dennis said that a little circularity is needed in the economy and the private sector should also move forward to invest in it using existing technologies. “There are many choices to develop green infrastructure, but we have to remove the obstacles and move forward,” he said.
He said that since the future is uncertain due to climate change, it is necessary to plan accordingly to see how the new infrastructure will make a difference to the existing infrastructure. It has also been pointed out that the private sector will play an important role in raising investment in infrastructure. It has been emphasized that the return on green infrastructure is low, but the government should also support it from a policy level when raising investment in it.
They suggested to promote green bonds in an integrated way to invest in green infrastructure. Rajesh Kumar Agarwal, Chairman of Nepal Industry Confederation, who presided over the session, said that the discussion emphasized that sustainable development is not a distant goal anymore, but an imperative for Nepal and the world.
Stating that sustainable infrastructure is the capital of Nepal’s long-term prosperity, he said that it is necessary to give priority to projects that are not only environmentally friendly, but also socially inclusive and economically practical. He proposed five financial instruments to mobilize resources for infrastructure, including private equity infrastructure funds, local currency bonds and sovereign credit ratings.