Indian News: President Nakao Emphasizes Potential of Indian Economy (6 Feb 2014)

President Nakao Emphasizes Potential of Indian Economy

NEW DELHI, INDIA - Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao began his three-day visit to India yesterday with a meeting with Finance Minister and ADB Governor P. Chidambaram and two ministers from key central government  ministries, exchanged views about the development issues facing India, and discussed the emerging macroeconomic challenges.

It is the first official visit by Mr. Nakao to India after the Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors held in India last May. Department of Economic Affairs Secretary and ADB Alternate Governor Arvind Mayaram also joined the discussions along with M. Mangapati Pallam Raju, Minister for Human Resources Development, and Oscar Fernandes, Minister for Road Transport and Highways.

Today, Mr. Nakao visits Uttarakhand to view the disaster-affected areas in the state and  will meet Chief Minister Harish Rawat and other senior officials. There is a signing of new ADB assistance comprising of a $200 million loan for the Uttarakhand Emergency Assistance Project to contribute to rebuilding some of the damaged infrastructure in the June 2013 natural disaster in Uttarakhand.

ADB has supported India by providing 180 sovereign loans amounting to $29.3 billion since the start of its lending operations in India in 1986 until the end of 2013. In addition, ADB has provided $2.4 billion in loans through its non-sovereign window during this period. ADB’s support for India has focused on energy, transport, urban development such as water and sewerage infrastructure, and finance and public sector management.

Mr. Nakao reaffirmed ADB’s continued support for the government’s development agenda, including human resource development through skills development. ADB’s support will be aligned with the Twelfth Five-Year Plan of the Government of India.

During his discussion with the ministers, Mr. Nakao noted the need for ADB to reform its  business processes for faster implementation of infrastructure projects. He also mentioned that ADB will expand its support to infrastructure building in India through public-private partnerships, and contribute to connectivity among South Asian countries through enhancing regional cooperation and integration.

Speaking about the emerging macroeconomic issues, Mr. Nakao said ADB remains positive about the strong potential of the Indian economy on the strength of its young and educated population and a growing middle class that supports and sustains a strong domestic demand.

"To harness this potential, India should continue to pursue sound macroeconomic policies and the needed structural reforms,” he said.

source from: http://www.adb.org/news/president-nakao-emphasizes-potential-indian-economy

Read More

Vietnam News: Environmental management through economic instruments (1 Jan 2014)

Environmental management through economic instruments

Law on Environmental Protection and bylaw documents were institutionalized in the views on the application of Economic Instruments (EIs) in environmental management, in particular, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Official Section of Communist Party issued Resolution No. 27/NQ-BCSDBTNMT on strengthening the economization policy of natural resources and environment sector. Thereby, in terms of management, EIs can be divided into two groups: EIs in pollution management and biodiversity conservation.

Application of EIs in environmental management is the right approach to curb pollution and environmental degradation in Vietnam. Currently, a number of EIs have been deployed at different scales, initially, EIs has a positive impact in curbing pollution and environmental degradation. However, the process of deploying these instruments has faced many difficulties; there are many EIs which have not been applied, especially in areas such as biodiversity conservation.

The EIs in pollution management

Currently in Vietnam, taxes/fees imposed on pollution unit discarded into the environment is being applied in the form of fees for environmental protection (EP) for wastewater, solid waste and mineral extraction.

Environmental protection fee for wastewater is first defined in Decree 67/2003/ND-CP dated 13/6/2003. However, after years of implementation, environmental protection fee for wastewater still exists many problems. The agency also faced difficulties in fee collection and calculation. Businesses still find the way to evade and owe fees. As a result, the fee collection rate of industrial wastewater is low.

Environmental protection fees for common solid waste and hazardous solid waste is regulated in Decree 174/2007/ND-CP dated 29/11/2007. However, revenues from these fees are not enough to offset the cost of collection and treatment of solid waste.

Environmental protection fees for mineral extraction is implemented under Decree No. 63/2008/ND-CP of the Government dated 05.13.2008. However, the fee collection still faces many difficulties because fee payers do not voluntarily perform such obligations. There still exists the situation that businesses enumerate the lower amount of mineral extraction compared to reality to reduce fees payable.

In addition to three types of fees included in Pigouvan tax/fee group which was mentioned above, there is Law on Environmental Protection Tax. This is tax regulation charged on raw materials/products, including 8 groups of products: Oil, coal, cleaning solvents containing HCFC, plastic bags and restricted-use group such as: plant protection drugs, herbicides, termiticides and warehouse disinfectants.

The pros of applying environmental protection taxes for materials/products are easy to calculate and apply. Regarding the cons, this type of tax only encourages pollution but not encourage the investment in pollution treatment in product manufacturing process. For the kind of luxury goods, this tax is more effective in curbing pollution (through curbing consumption/production) but for the essential commodities, this tax has little effect on reducing pollution.

The EIs in biodiversity conservation

Compared to the EIs in pollution management, the EIs in biodiversity conservation has not been widely applied in Vietnam, including taxes for natural resource, environmental services and environmental label some forestry and fishery products.

Currently a number of EIs in biodiversity conservation is being studied and applied such as: Development rights, which can be exchanged or traded, are the rights given to the owner of the land in the area of biodiversity conservation. These rights can be sold to investors who intend to invest in development projects in other lands; however, according to regulations of law, a certain number of conservation licenses are required to have the right to implement investment activities. As a result, investors should acquire this license from those who carry out conservation activities.

Besides, there is also Green development mechanism, a form which is studied and proposed by international scientists. Green development mechanism will create a exchange market for the quotas of economic development activities affecting biodiversity. Accordingly, there will be a number of certain quotas of development activities which are determined for a regional or global area. If a country wants to develop the economy exceeding this quota, it must buy the rights from other nations.

source from:

http://www.monre.gov.vn/v35/default.aspx?tabid=675&CateID=58&ID=131075&Code=PBPY131075

Read More

Hong Kong News: Converter replacement subsidy extended (2 Jan 2013)

Converter replacement subsidy extended

January 02, 2014

Late applications for a subsidy to replace catalytic converters and oxygen sensors of petrol and liquefied petroleum gas taxis and minibuses will be accepted from today until January 17.

The Environmental Protection Department said there will be no further extension of the application period.

The special arrangement was made because after phase one and phase two applications closed, some vehicle owners said they missed the application deadlines and would like to make submissions for the subsidy.

The department received 16,202 applications under the programme's two phases, accounting for 74% of all eligible vehicles. The replacement of parts for phase one ended on December 31. The replacement of parts for phase two is taking place from January to March.

sourec from: http://www.news.gov.hk/en/categories/environment/html/2014/01/20140102_173900.shtml

Read More