BUTWAL, JANUARY 29
Entrepreneurs have been suffering due to lack of integrated customs check post in Bhairahawa, considered as the second largest customs point in Nepal.
As a result, the entrepreneurs have been forced to bear various hassles along with additional fees.
As per the agreement reached between the governments of Nepal and India in 2007, the target was to set up ICPs at Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Biratnagar and Nepalgunj.
According to the Bhairahawa Customs Office, work has not progressed despite the agreement between the Government of Nepal to provide land and the Indian side to build technical and infrastructure.
As per the agreement, the check post has been completed in Birgunj, Biratnagar and is being constructed in Nepalgunj.
Chief Customs Officer at Bhairahawa Customs Office Gyanendra Raj Dhakal, said that the land required for construction of the ICP has already been acquired from Nepal.
Necessary infrastructure, including customs office, bank, livestock and agriculture quarantine and customs laboratory are constructed under the ICP. Structures of similar nature are set up on both sides.
Madhu Panthi, president of the Nepal Customs Agents' Association, said businesspersons who were importing and exporting goods through the Bhairahawa checkpoint were being attracted to other checkpoints as there was no ICP at the checkpoint. He said that despite all the preparations from the Nepali side, the Indian side had delayed work due to lack of diplomatic initiative.
The distance from the Indian market Nautanwa-Sunauli to Belahiya is about seven kilometres. But it has been taking a long time for freight vehicles to cross that distance.
There is not enough parking facility even at Bhairahawa customs on the Nepal side where goods worth millions of rupees are imported daily. Due to this, freight vehicles have to stop on the road for weeks. When a vehicle taken for a certain period of time has to be stopped on the road for many days, the importer is obliged to pay additional fee including financial loss. This has made import from the customs point expensive.
Entrepreneur Tan Bahadur Pandey said that Nepali importers have been paying extra for transportation as some trucks have to line up to 30 kilometres on Indian territory due to lack of parking.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 30, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
