Nepal-India ICP talks to be held today
KATHMANDU:
High-ranking Nepali and Indian officials are holding crucial talks tomorrow for the establishment of integrated check points (ICPs) along the Nepal-India border, which once complete will further facilitate trade and reduce trading cost between the two neighbouring countries.
A 10-member delegation led by secretary of the ministry of urban development (MoUD) Kishore Thapa left for the Indian capital of New Delhi today to take part in the steering committee meeting.
Thapa will be joined by secretary of Border Management Sneh Lata Kumar, who is heading the Indian delegation, at the one-day meeting.
“Upon completion of talks, a minute will be signed, which will provide a guideline for both sides to pursue matters in the future,” MoUD under secretary Purushottam Prasad Tiwari told The Himalayan Times.
Although the meeting of the steering committee on the construction of ICPs is supposed to be held every year, talks between the two sides have not taken place since July 2011.
Considering this, Nepal had earlier proposed that talks be held here in January-end, but it was later postponed after the Indian side failed to make a timely response.
“We hope the meeting scheduled for tomorrow will provide us a platform to urge the Indian side to expedite the construction of ICPs,” Tiwari said, without elaborating on the agendas that Nepal is planning to raise.
An agreement to build ICPs in Birgunj, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj on the Nepali side and in Raxaul, Jogbani, Sunauli and Rupedia on the Indian side was signed in August 2005. The Indian government is supporting Nepal to build these checkpoints to facilitate trade and transit between Nepal and India.
Once the project is complete, customs office, quarantine laboratories, immigration office, banks and post offices, among others, will come under one roof called ICP.
Currently, all these facilities are scattered at Nepal-India border points and people have to travel quite a distance when they have to release cargoes or visit a quarantine laboratory.
“The idea is to build similar physical infrastructure for ICPs on Nepali and Indian soil. The ICPs built on Nepali and Indian territories will then be interconnected so that transfer of passengers and goods through Nepal-India border is smooth,” Tiwari said, adding, “This will eventually facilitate trade and transit between the
two countries and bring down the cost of trading.”
Despite these advantages, work on construction of ICPs has been slow. Currently, construction work in only Birgunj — one of the four sites — has begun, following the endorsement of the detail project engineering report.
But this project is also running behind deadline, as the ICP which should have been built within 18 months to two years of commencement of construction in 2009 is yet to be completed.
“During the meeting, Nepal will urge the Indian side to endorse the detail project engineering report on the construction of ICP in Biratnagar,” Tiwari said. “Once this report is approved, construction works will begin there as well.”
However, it might take some more time to build ICPs in Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj, as these projects fall in the second phase of the programme.
Source: THT
