After eleven months in operation, traders are choosing the integrated check post over the traditional customs point in Birgunj. Around 60 percent of the total imports from the Birgunj customs happen via the integrated check post as importers are using it for the import of goods from third countries, fuel and new vehicles.

Nepal imported 51,680 automobiles through Birgunj customs and the Integrated Check Post (ICP) in the first two and a half months of the fiscal year, up from 50,856 automobiles during the same period last year.

Nepali famers that plan to utilise the Gandak Irrigation Canal during paddy plantation this season might face difficulties irrigating their fields as Indian officials have yet to complete maintenance works at the different sections of the canal that fall within the Indian territory.

The customs office at Sirsiya Dry Port, which had fallen short of the revenue target for the month of Baisakh (mid-April to mid-May), has met the target for Jestha five days ahead of the mid-June.

The government is planning to make it mandatory for empty cargo vehicles returning to India via Birgunj to use the newly built integrated check post (ICP) in Birgunj. The Birgunj Customs Office made the decision in a bid to operate the country’s only ICP at a higher capacity.

The Inland Revenue Service (IRS) Birgunj Office has started recording statement from a member of a racket involved in importing duplicate excise stickers to paste on the caps of alcoholic beverage bottles.

The Birgunj-Pathlaiya road upgradation project has ground to a halt and is unlikely to meet the completion deadline. The contractor tasked with a 5.8km section that stretches from Simara to Jitpur has not carried out construction work for the last three months.

The government has started distributing compensation for land that is being acquired to widen the 1.1-km road connecting the integrated check post (ICP) and Sirsiya Dry Port in Birgunj.

The frequency in arrival of consignments of chemical fertiliser is gradually increasing, providing a big relief to the country which was witnessing rapid depletion in the stock of the key agricultural input.

Nepal’s clinker import bill jumped 33 percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year due to surge in demand for cement, a key construction material.

Revenue collection at customs offices in Birgunj, which had fallen short of target in the last few months, has bounced back with the rise in imports of various goods.