Revenues at Tatopani Customs are projected to suffer a deficit this fiscal year after six straight years of growth, customs officials said. Tatopani is the most important border crossing point on the Nepal-China frontier.
The government has set a target of collecting Rs 5.90 billion in import duties and other taxes from Tatopani during this fiscal year. However, income for the first six
months has reached only Rs 1.85 billion against the goal of Rs 3.22 billion.
During the same period in the last fiscal year, the customs office had earned Rs 2.91 billion in import revenue. The total collection for the whole of last year came to Rs 5.09 billion.
The lower revenue collection has been attributed to a drop in imports through Tatopani in the first six months of the current fiscal year as a result of multiple problems like landslide on the Sunkoshi River which took away part of the highway, haphazard freight rates and frequent roadblocks and strikes.
It will not be possible to meet the yearly revenue collection target this fiscal year, a customs official said.
Similarly, the volume of imports passing through Tatopani has further slumped as traders have been shifting their focus towards the Kyirong border point further west since the major transit point for trade with China has been suffering from frequent problems.
Officials said that imports from China had fallen sharply. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, the value of imports dropped to Rs 7.39 billion from Rs 10.77 billion in the same period last year.
Bishnu Shrestha, a customs officer, said that imports of 20 products including readymade garments, leather shoes, furniture, telephone equipment and vegetable products took a dive during the review period. The office had collected Rs 2.13 billion in import taxes on these commodities in the first six months of last year.
Nepal-China trade has been severely hit due to the damage caused by the worst landslide on the Sunkoshi River which occurred in mid-August last year, right before the Dashain festival when Nepalis go on a shopping binge. Of the total Chinese imports that come through this border, 30-40 percent happen during Dashain.
“Besides, uncontrolled freight rates on the Araniko Highway have forced traders to look for other routes to bring their goods, and this has brought down imports through Tatopani,” said Nabin Thapa, a trader.
After transporters raised the freight rate to Rs 350,000 per truck to transport goods from Khasa to Kathmandu, a distance of 125 km, importers started rerouting their shipments through Kyirong, across the border from Rasuwa. More than 1,200 container trucks ply the highway.
Meanwhile, the Trans-Himalayan Border Chamber of Commerce Association has announced simplifying trade procedures and facilitating traders as trade through Tatopani has been falling continuously.
“We will form a mechanism to simplify trade procedures,” said Bishnu Bahadur Khatri, a newly elected president of the association. “The association’s objective is to help traders as they have been harassed by various problems.”
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