By Our Reporter suresh-prabhu-7591Nepal Infrastructure Summit 2017 concluded here Monday stressing need for creating a better investment environment by formulating favourable policies and reforming the existing policies. The two-day summit, organised by Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) in partnership with the government and other organisations brought together nearly 500 participants, including government officials, CEOs, private sector leaders, foreign investors and experts. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had inaugurated the summit on Sunday. Indian Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Wencai Zhnag, vice president of Asian Development Bank, former finance minister Ram Sharan Mahat, Chief Secretary Somlal Subedi and others had addressed the Summit. Indian Minister Prabhu said that India would create cross-border railway connectivity as soon as possible in order to establish a faster mode of connection between Kathmandu and New Delhi. Prabhu made this remark at a time when the Nepalese people were expecting railway connection with China. Likewise, ADB vice chair Zhang asked the government to invest 8-10 percent of GDP on building infrastructure. The participants discussed wide range of issues ranging from private public partnership model of infrastructure development, value proposition, financing of green and resilient infrastructure, sharing of successful PPP models, role of private sectors in addressing the infrastructure gap and foreign direct investment. However, all participants agreed that the investment in infrastructure development in Nepal was insufficient. Nepal spends only 4 per cent of her GDP in infrastructure development, which is quite insufficient. The participants also discussed the problems faced by Nepal in building infrastructure indentifying red-tapism as the major problem in Nepal. Representatives of development partners and other stakeholders agreed that the private sector should be 'an indispensable partner' for the government to develop infrastructure in the country. Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bimalendra Nidhi addressed the concluding ceremony of the summit with commitment to putting efforts in creating an investment-friendly environment.