Trade at Tatopani customs resumes
KATHMANDU, JUNE 06:
Trade from Tatopani — the transit point between Nepal and China — has resumed after Chinese transporters agreed to withdraw the extra loading fee being charged on Nepali importers. The transit point had been closed since May 12.
Chinese transporters and loaders in Khasa — bordering town in China — had been demanding more money from Nepali traders. Chinese loaders had demanded Rs 15,000 extra from each truck to load goods
in Khasa while the official loading fee is Rs 3,750 for a small container.
The problem has now been resolved. Chinese transporters agreed to withdraw the extra loading fee on Tuesday, said president of Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Industry Nilkantha Chaulagai. “Trade between the two countries has normalised. Now, we don’t have to pay any extra fee.”
About 40 containers are loaded in Khasa everyday, which means that according to the rate, Nepali importers had been losing Rs 600,000 daily. Approximately 12,000 Nepali containers are loaded in Khasa every year and Chinese transporters and loaders had been cheating Nepali traders more than Rs 100 million through the illegal loading fee.
Nepal has a huge trade deficit with China. The country imported Chinese goods worth Rs 45.64 billion, while total export was recorded at Rs 0.75 billion in fiscal year 2010-11.
Nepal has been importing food, clothes and electronic goods from China but the country’s export is limited to a few dozen agriculture goods.
Computer-based revenue system
Tatopani customs adopted a computer-based revenue collection system on Wednesday. According to the customs, Nepal Bangladesh Bank has established a counter at the customs and is collecting the revenue for goods exported and imported from the transit point. The bank has been using the same software used by the customs to collect revenue. The automation will increase transparency.
Source: THT
