January 7: The government had a plan to integrate all the customs offices at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) of Birgunj, once it came into operation. It has been three years since the ICP has been used for import and export of goods but the government has not fulfilled its plan.

Birgunj currently has the ICP, Birgunj Dry Port and Inarwa (Birgunj) Customs for the import and export of goods. The government was planning to convert the Birgunj Customs into passenger transit point after the ICP came into operation. It has been once year since the government decided to integrate the Dry Port with the ICP. However, the decision is yet to materialize due to poor infrastructure and ambiguous instructions.

The importers involved in bringing in bulk cargo from Birgunj Customs have demanded a separate lane at the ICP. At present, most of the bulk cargo enter Nepal from India’s Raxaul through the friendship bridge.

General Secretary of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Madhav Rajpal says that the decision to integrate the Birgunj Customs with the ICP cannot take place unless the government makes a provision to transfer the cargo brought from Raxaul through train to the ICP.

Clinker, gypsum, coal, salt, iron and some amount of petroleum products enter Nepal through Raxaul. Birgunj Customs informed that a total of 51 racks of goods entered Nepal through Raxaul in December.

Kamal Gyawali, chief of Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Committee (NTDC), which  operates the ICP, informed that the ICP has started works to expand the infrastructures like parking lot and warehouse but they do not yet have any plan to have a separate lane for bulk cargo.

The ICP has five lanes for import and export. Customs officer Ramesh Sukmani says that the problem has surfaced because the same lane is used for entry and exit of goods. Sukmani says that the plan to integrate Birgunj Customs with the ICP could not take place due to lack of adequate infrastructure.

“Most of the foreign trade has already been shifted from to the ICP from the Birgunj Customs. However, the entry of bulk cargo is still taking place from the old customs point,” says Sukmani.

“The ICP lacks adequate infrastructure to allow the entry of bulk cargo,” he added.