Upon completion, the ICD, which is located near Tatopani Customs Office, will facilitate bi-lateral trade with China - country´s second largest trade partner. It is being constructed with the support of the Chinese government.[break]
Commerce secretary Lalmani Joshi and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yang Houlan are scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the ICD.
Officials said all preparation works such as land acquisition, technical study and designing of infrastructure for the dry port have already been completed. The construction works are scheduled to complete within two years.
Sarad Bikram Rana, director of Inter-model Transport Management Committee, said Nepal´s trade with the northern neighbor will get a big boost with the development of modern infrastructure in the proposed dry port.
Along with the dry port, construction of bridge over Bhotekoshi River and upgradation of 6-km stretch of Araniko Highway (from Lipibazar to the dry port) will kick-start simultaneously, according to the officials.
As per the bilateral agreement, the Chinese government will bear the construction cost, which hovers around one billion rupees, while the Nepali side will bear land acquisition cost of around Rs 60 million.
The proposed dry port, which will sprawl over 34 hectares, will have a storage house, parking facility for up to 200 containers and a weighing machine that can weigh up to 100 tons at a time.
Existing parking lot at Tatopani Customs Office can hardly accommodate 60 containers.
Nepal and China had signed an agreement to construct a dry port in Tatopani four years ago.
The Chinese government has appointed Beijing Real Estate Company as the contractor to develop the project and other necessary infrastructures.
Rana told Republica that the government would soon request China, seeking its support in the construction of another dry port near Rasuwagadhi customs point.
Nepal suffered trade deficit of around Rs 52 billion with China in 2011/12. During the period, Nepal had imported goods worth Rs 53 billion from the northern neighbor.
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