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| Kathmandu, Thursday January 02, 2003 Paush 18, 2059. |
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WB pledges to extend Birgunj
ICD project
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Jan 1 The World Bank (WB), the
principal lender to inland container depots (ICDs) construction project, has pledged an
extension of nine months for the Birgunj-based ICD project after the government failed to
bring it into operation within the stipulated deadline of Dec 31, 2002.
"The WB, issuing a letter on Friday,
informed of the project about the extension till September 30, 2003," said a highly
placed government source, talking to The Kathmandu Post. "Such an extension has been
pledged on the government’s request," he added.
With the latest extension, the government now
needs to hammer out the much-delayed deal of railways link with India by the end of
September 2003. Despite several attempts, both Nepal and India have failed to find out an
acceptable solution regarding the operation of a direct railway link and it has been the
main factor responsible for the delay in the operation of Birgunj ICD.
The government had requested the WB to extend
the project after the lender warned of tagging the project ‘unsatisfactory’ due
to the government’s failure in fulfilling the objectives of investment within the
deadline.
The Nepal Multi-model Transit and Trade
Facilitation Project (NMTTFP), the WB funded project, envisaged constructing three ICDs in
the country in Bhairahawa, Biratnagar and Birgunj to facilitate the third country trade.
Constructions of Bhairahawa and Biratnagar ICDs have already been completed.
Even as the ICDs in Bhairahawa and Biratnagar
are already into operation while the largest ICD based in Sirsiya, Birgunj, having a
direct railway link with Kolkata, is yet to go operational due to delay in materialising
the railways agreement with India.
"This extension has prevented the project
from being labelled as ‘project at risk’," said the source. However, he
added that the risk factor was still there as India and Nepal are yet to concur on the key
issues of operating a direct cargo train from ICD to Kolkata.
Although the two rounds of bilateral joint
secretary-level talks have already been held to iron out differences pertaining to
technicalities of railways operation and customs procedures, nothing tangible has been
achieved yet.
The difference on the issue of customs clearance
still persists between the two countries, which have been delaying the finalisation of the
railway agreement.
While Nepali side has been persuading for a
mechanism of issuing customs clearance for the third country trade at the ICD itself, the
Indian side has been adherent to the stance of inspecting the containers at Raxaul.
Later, in a bid to facilitate the talks, the
Indian government even informed of forwarding a new proposal on customs procedures.
However, Nepali officials informed that such a proposal has not been forwarded as of yet.
Apart from the railway agreement, the government
also needs to finalise transport legislation like Railways Act to govern the cargo
handling and Multi-modal Act for governing the ICD operation, among others. It also needs
to appoint a Terminal Management Company to take over the management of the ICD before its
operation actually commences.
"However, these could be solved without any
hassles, as the Railways Act was prepared about a year back and currently pending in the
dissolved parliament. Even the Multi-modal Act is at the final stage and is being studied
by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs," the source said.
He further added that necessary calls for the
bid from parties have already been sought for appointing a company to manage the ICD.
The WB funded government-run NMTTFP was
initiated in 1998 and due commitment from the Indian government too was taken for railways
agreement and the ICD-Kolkata direct train operation.
An investment of over US$ 18 million has been
made for constructing Birgunj-based ICD. India assisted in the project by extending a
broad-gauge railway line to ICD from Raxaul.
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