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Kathmandu Wednesday July 12, 2000 Ahsad 28, 2057.
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Construction of railways track begins
By a Post Reporter
BIRGUNJ, July 11- Minister for Commerce,
Industry and Supplies Ram Krishna Tamrakar laid the first stone for the construction of
5.4 kilometers-long broad-gauge railways track that will connect Birgunj Inland Container
Depot (ICD) to Indian Railways track in Raxual.
The construction of the railway track under
the Indian grant assistance will provide Nepal’s foreign trade a direct railways
access to seaport in Calcutta.
Digvijaya Singh, Indian State Minister for
Railways and Surendra Prasad Chaudhary Minister for Information and Technology witnessed
the stone laying ceremony.
Addressing the ceremony, Tamrakar expressed
hope that Indian assistance in the construction of railway track would add yet another
dimension in the annals of historic relationship between Nepal and India.
He also hoped that construction of railways
track would facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade to a great extent by reducing freight
and delivery time in Nepal’s foreign trade.
On the occassion Singh promised assistance to
connect the remaining two ICDs in Brigunj and Bhairahawa with broad-guage railways links
to Indian Railways. Minister Singh also expressed confidence that change of government in
India or Nepal would not affect the existing cooperaion between the two countries existing
since time immemorial.
The construction work of the railway track
has already been awarded to IRCON, an official constructor of the Indian Railways.
Construction of the railways track is
expected to be completed by November along with the completion of the construction of
Birgunj ICD.
Completion of ICD, more popularly known as
Dry Port, and Railway tracks alone, however, will not ensure the operation of railways
connecting the dry port to sea unless Nepal and India reach Railway Operation Agreement.
Though Nepal sent the first draft of the
agreement to India back in February this year, the latter is yet to send any response on
the draft despite repeated inquiry from the Nepali side. Alike many of other pending trade
issues, it is unlikely to be settled before Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s
expected visit next month. A highly placed government official said the issue would be
discussed during Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s forthcoming visit to India
scheduled for next month.
Three ICDs are being constructed in Birgunj,
Biratnagar and Bhairahawa under Nepal Multimodal Trade and Transit Facilitation
Project(NMTTFP). The total cost of three ICDs is billed at US$ 28.5 million. Out of the
estimated cost, US$ 23.5 million rupees is being covered by financial assistance from The
World Bank and the rest US$ 5 million is being covered by the government. The completion
of the project and connection of the Dry Port to railway link is expected to reduce the
trade and transit cost by about 30 percent, besides reducing the administrative hassles in
the smooth transportation of goods to and from India.
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