The Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Birgunj is likely to have a safe transit facility for dirty cargo in two years from now.
The ICP that features the largest customs office in the country does not have the facility to pass dirty cargo like coal and slag. Since there are no proper guidelines for their transportation, entire route is covered with the black dust leaked while carrying the dirty cargo.
“There is not the facility of air tight containers that carry dirty goods in safe and clean manner. We are planning to develop a separate route and transit facility for such goods. About 62 bigahas of land is being acquired to expand the facility for the ICP,” said Harihar Poudel, Chief Customs Officer at the Birgunj Customs Office. The dry port is built in 62 bigahas.
According to him, distribution of compensation will conclude by the end of the current fiscal year 2021/22 and construction will be completed within the next fiscal.
As the number of vehicles passing through the Birgunj customs doubles in 8.5 years, there is an urgent need to expand the facility.
Likewise, the dry port at the ICP is facing the shortage of container yard. Senior Officer of the Dry Port Office, Kamal Gyawali informed that the expansion of the dry port in additional 62 bigahas will pave the way for the construction of the facility.
The dry port was developed in 2001 and is currently run by Himalayan Terminal (a joint venture between Nepali and Indian companies). ICP is run by the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board (NITDB) for the last four years.
The dry port had witnessed the entry of 174,000 vehicles and exit of 13,432 vehicles last year. Likewise, the ICP developed in 115 bigahas of land has 10 different lanes for vehicles to facilitate the speedy clearance of goods. It has the facility for 600 vehicle parking. “But the parking facility has already fallen short. If there is a delay in passing the vehicle quickly, there would be a traffic congestion,” said Gyawali.
Online customs payment from Thursday The Customs Office said that in absence of the online customs transit declaration facility, smuggling couldn’t be curbed effectively. According to Poudel, it would take a while to implement the facility.
However, customs online payment is transitioning to online from Thursday, with the beginning of Nepali month Poush. All infrastructure required to make online payment is ready and it is synchronized with ASYCUDA World – a web-based facility that allows to make paperless declaration procession at the customs.
“The payment system – ConnectIPS – is integrated with the Revenue Information Management System,” said Poudel.
Birgunj customs contributes 19 per cent to the total government revenue and shares 46 per cent in total customs revenue. It has the target of Rs. 203 billion revenue in the current fiscal year. It has collected Rs. 70.12 billion by the end of first four months of this year.
Post-COVID surge in luxury goods including vehicles and petroleum products has contributed to good customs revenue, Poudel said.
Source : TRN,
