Sushil Bhatta Appointed As The CEO Of Investment Board
August 3, 2020 | Investopaper
The cabinet meeting has appointed Sushil Bhatt as the chief executive officer of the Investment Board. A meeting of the cabinet held in Baluwatar on Monday decided to appoint Bhatta as the CEO of the board for the next four years. Bhatta, who is also a member of the National Planning Commission, has worked in the fields of management, banking, engineering and planning. He is affiliated with Nepal Management Association, Nepal Engineering Association and others.
The recommendation committee headed by Finance Minister Dr. Yuvraj Khatiwada had recommended Ramkrishna Khatiwada, Sushil Bhatt and Dr. Saroj Koirala’s name to the Council of Ministers. Out of these three, the cabinet has appointed Bhatta.
The committee had prepared a list of five out of 12 candidates for the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Investment Board. Among those selected were Sushil Gyawali, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), Sushil Bhatt, member of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Ram Krishna Khatiwada, former member of the Electricity Regulatory Commission, Saroj Koirala, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the State 1 Investment Authority and Laxmi Vilas Koirala, former joint secretary.
An expert committee led by Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari of NRB evaluated the qualifications, experience and proposal of 12 people mentioned in the application. The committee had evaluated each of the issues in the expert committee and submitted a report to the recommendation committee of Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada last week.
The post was vacant after the government appointed Maha Prasad Adhikari, CEO of the board, as the governor of NRB. The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers had issued a notice on Jestha 5 to apply for the post of CEO of the board. Applicants range from government officials to bankers, former administrators, and chartered accountants.
Applicants
Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi, Former Administrator of Citizens Investment Fund and Chairman of Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAN) Krishna Acharya, Former Executive Director of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Chandika Bhatt and Infrastructure Specialist Ashish Gajurel working as consultants in Investment Board, Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Machhapuchhre bank Suman Sharma, Associate Professor Ramesh Chandra Poudel of Tribhuvan University and Sher Jung Karki had also applied for the post of CEO of the board.
The Council of Ministers has formed a recommendation committee under the coordination of Finance Minister Khatiwada to select the CEO of the board. Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission Pushpa Kandel and former member of the Planning Commission Govinda Nepal are members of the committee. They will have to select the names of three of the applicants and submit them to the Council of Ministers. One of them will be the CEO.
Requirements
The CEO should have at least a bachelor’s degree in economics, management, commerce, law, engineering or development project from an accredited educational institution and at least 10 years managerial experience in project development, public procurement, public-private partnership, investment promotion, development administration, banking, financial and industrial management.
The board, chaired by the prime minister, has jurisdiction to allow projects with an investment of more than Rs 6 billion. The board has also been given the authority to work on the permission and investment of hydropower projects with a capacity of more than 200 MW. Apart from this, it has the right to raise investment, give permission and monitor large infrastructure projects. The board was formed under the then Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai in 2068 BS to invest in big projects.
