HTPL bags management contract of ICD Birgunj
KATHMANDU:
The Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board (NITDB) — that oversees Inland Container Depots (ICDs) — has awarded the management contract of ICD Birgunj to the Himalayan Terminals Private Limited (HTPL) again, as the extension of additional six-months following the 10-year contract of the firm is going to expire from Wednesday.
HTPL, which was selected through competitive bidding, will manage ICD Birguni — the only rail linked ICD of the country for next five year, according to Laxman Basnet executive director of the NITDB.
NITDB executive director has said that he will present the development in the board meeting tomorrow, and the board will give final approval of the negotiations.
“Considering the expiry of Nepal-India Railway Service Agreement (RSA) after four-and-half-years, we’ve handed over the contract only for next five years, and another bid will be called following the renewal of RSA.”Three bidders were vying for the management contract of ICD Birgunj but two bidders, namely Priston India and HIND Terminal, India failed to meet the technical qualifications (criteria) mentioned in the bid document. “We had called the double envelope bid, financial and technical, as the bidders mentioned above failed to meet the technical criteria,” said Basnet, adding, “The independent evaluation committee formed by NITDB comprising experts, lawyers and officials had evaluated the bids.”
The firm that bagged the contract is a Nepali joint venture company of the Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) — the subsidiary of Indian Railway. CONCOR has partnered with Transworld Group, an Indian shipping company, Nepal Transit Warehousing Corporation and Interstate Multimodal Transport Pvt Ltd, Nepal in HTPL.
NITDB Executive Director Basnet and Sanjay Swarup, group general manager of CONCOR signed the deal last week. HTPL offered Rs 799.5 million royalty to NITDB for five years. On top of that they have also agreed on the revenue sharing modality regarding bulk-cargo containers. After crossing the threshold of 22,000 containers per annum, HTPL will pay NITDB 60 per cent in each container.
HTPL will pay royalty worth Rs 144 million in the first year and share the revenue every year on the movement of each container beyond the threshold in both bulk and break-bulk cargo movement, as per Basnet.
The port manager HTPL is providing services like transport clearing, parking yard management and warehouse handling as well as stacker services. It has over 10 years of experience of handling freight station terminal in ICD Birgunj.
Birgunj ICD was constructed in 2000 with World Bank’s assistance. The warehouse, parking yard and related other infrastructure are going to be expanded under the Nepal-India Regional Trade and Transport Project (NIRTTP) under the World Bank’s assistance, in view of increased traffic over the past 14 years.
According to World Bank’s study, the ICD was handling 9,000 TEUs (20-foot-long intermodal containers) in 2000 and it has increased to nearly 20,000 TEUs at present. The number is expected to rise further in the coming days.
Likewise, the current warehouse shed is only 40 metres long, whereas the length of the train is 70 metres, leaving unloaded goods vulnerable to the elements. The World Bank assisted project has proposed to fund disabling of two of the three currently unused lines by building a cement platform that will be used for loading and unloading and truck crossing.
Apart from this, NITDB is going to launch the Kolkata-Kathmandu corridor monitoring system in a bid to shorten the travel duration of cargo from Kolkata port to ICD Birgunj, including customs clearance duration in Nepali customs point to prevent importers from detention charges to shipping lines. Importers are compelled to pay detention charges if the 14-day turnaround period (time between cargo dispatched to Birgunj from Kolkata and returned to Kolkata) is exceeded.
Source: THT
