KATHMANDU, APRIL 5

The much-awaited Chobhar dry port, the first-ever dry port in the country, has finally come into operation from today.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba officially inaugurated the port by opening a digital lock to allow three Birgunj-bound cargoes through its gates.

Speaking at the inaugural, PM Deuba stated that the dry port will facilitate and make the import-export trade of the landlocked country like Nepal transparent, systematic and cost-effective, while also improve the supply system of industrial raw material for Kathmandu valley-based industries.

'Following the operation of this dry port, I expect the Kathmandu valley to be developed into an international trade hub,' he said.

The Chobhar dry port coming into operation is expected to reduce the traffic congestion at Inland Clearance Depot, Birgunj and other ICDs at the bordering towns as the containers can directly be ferried to Chobhar with the help of electronic cargo tracking system (ECTS) and the customs clearance process will be carried out at the Chobhar dry port.

With the assistance worth $22 million from the World Bank Group, the dry port has been built over 200 ropanis of land in Chobhar, situated on the outskirts of Kathmandu. It is equipped with warehouses, parking lot, litigation shed, administrative buildings for customs, quarantine, banks and other required facilities for customs clearance. The dry port has the capacity to accommodate around 500 containers of 20-foot each, parking facility for 500 trucks, loading and unloading facilities, and six warehouses. It features three gates, with each exclusively slated for import, export and contingencies.

The World Bank and the government had inked an agreement in 2013 to build the dry port. However, the World Bank had almost dropped the project due to the delay in land ownership transfer of Himal Cement. The land ownership transfer process had taken almost three-and-a-half years.

Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board (NITDB) - the government agency responsible for the construction and operation of dry ports and integrated check posts - had awarded the contract to an international bidder Aashish joint venture and local bidder Lumbini-Koshi and Neupane joint venture for the construction of the dry port in 2018.

Then prime minister KP Sharma Oli laid the foundation stone of the dry port on January 17, 2019.

The construction of the dry port, which was supposed to be completed within 18 months, had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and local protests.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 6, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.