Jilong-Rasuwagadhi route to open

KATHMANDU:

The Jilong Checkpost of China at the border of Rasuwagadhi, along with the upgraded Rasuwagadhi Customs Point of Nepal will begin operations from Monday.

According to officials at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS), the Director General of the Commerce Department in Lhasa and Nepali Consular General for Lhasa Hari Basyal will jointly inaugurate both the customs points, paving the way for movement of containers across the Nepal-China border from one more trading route.

The Jilong Checkpost was scheduled to be inaugurated in the beginning of October this year. But the plan was postponed due to the delay in establishing the immigration point in Rasuwagadhi from Nepal side.

Now, with all the work completed, there are full-fledged customs services on both sides. Nepal recently set up immigration and

quarantine services at the checkpost.

Regular trading activities from Rasuwagadhi had not been possible due to the lack of full-fledged customs services on both sides. While trade from the Jilong-Rasuwagadhi route is quite nominal at present, government authorities expect trading activities to pick up.

This route is also linked with the Chinese government’s railway project.

The Chinese side had given permission for transporting only 10 containers (although, these containers have three times higher capacity than those being used in Nepal) per day from Kerung, when the Araniko Highway in Jure of Sindhupalchowk district — the popular trading route with China — was blocked due to landslide in August.

With the resumption of traffic movement on the Araniko Highway, Chinese authorities closed the service and some 50 containers are still stuck at Kerung, according to Nilkantha Chaulagain, president of the Nepal Trans Himalaya Border Commerce Association.

“Transporters continued to use that route due to miscommunication and now containers are stuck there

because the Chinese authorities refused to let them pass citing that movement along Araniko Highway had resumed.”

Kerung is 30 km away from Jilong. China used to provide customs service from Kerung earlier and now it will provide customs service from Jilong, border of Rasuwagadhi. The containers that have been stuck at Kerung can only enter the country after the inauguration of Jilong checkpost, according to MoCS officials.

SOurce: THT