Tatopani border reopened

Kathmandu, Oct. 29

Tatopani entry point at the northern border with China has come into operation from Thursday after being shut for 23 days since 6 October.

It resumed operation with a container truck's entry into Nepal from China in the afternoon today, said that Department of Customs. It said that the entry of the truck was made to mark the resumption of the services, according to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the two countries had agreed to resume operation from Wednesday.

From Friday, at least seven containers will cross the Miteri Bridge and reach the Nepali customs yard. Chinese containers are large enough to carry goods that require two Nepali containers.

The Chinese container trucks will offload the goods at the isolation centre created in Nepal side, they will be kept there for maximum 48 hours before loading in a container and transporting to various locations in the country. Workers are already sent to the customs yard.

About 400 containers are stuck at Tatopani.

Tatopani and Rasuwagadhi border points were remained for more than five months due to COVID-19 and landslides during the monsoon this year.

Closure of the border entry point had resulted in more than 700 containers trucks with goods for Nepal being stuck across the border in China. Although China started to pass five containers a day from September 25 from Rasuwagadhi border, traders are unable to get all goods so far.

Raw materials, readymade clothes, shoes, food and fruits were stuck at the bordering cities in China.

Fruits had been already damaged while many industries are facing difficulties in their operation due to the shortage of raw materials which have arrived at the border side but couldn't make its way through the customs.