Nepal’s Consular General to India Chandra Kumar Ghimire said the southern neighbour informed that it had acquired land for the ICP development and would start construction within a few months.

The ICP will have a quarantine lab, warehouse, parking lot and banking and insurance services, besides the normal customs office, according to Ghimire. Nepal had built the Kakarvitta ICD under the World Bank assistance of $29 million.  

However, lack of a similar infrastructure on the other side of the border was hindering Nepal’s international trade. According to an official at the Ministry of Commerce and Supply, India has also agreed develop additional infrastructure at Kakarvitta too so that similar facilities would be available on both the sides.

Ghimire said India would construct a new bridge across the Mechi River as the existing one is in a dilapidated state. he said India has also planned to expand the existing Pani Tanki-Siliguri-Fulbari-Bagalabandh highway to four lanes which will facilitate Nepal’s trade with Bangladesh.

Kakarvitta customs is one of the main trading routes of the country. Nepal’s international trade, particularly with India, Bangladesh and Bhutan, takes place through this route.

Jib Raj Koirala, joint-secretary at the MoCS, said the construction of the infrastructure on the Indian side would help improve Nepal’s connectivity with neighbouring countries. “It could mainly facilitate trade with Bangladesh as traders are finding it hard to do business due to poor infrastructure on Indian side of the border,” said Koirala.

Nepal-Bangladesh trade talks

Nepal and Bangladesh are scheduled to hold as joint secretary-level trade talks next week. The meeting, which should have taken place in 2014, has been delayed by one year. The two sides had held talks in 2012 in Dhaka and agreed to hold the meeting every two years. Jib Raj Koirala, joint-secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supply, said the ministry has started to work on major agendas to be discussed. (PR)