Port Authority in offing

The government is setting up Port Authority of Nepal to manage and regulate the dry ports in the country.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) has recently given a final shape to the concept of the legal instrument required to establish and run the new institution.

"A concept paper on the act for the port authority has been prepared and recently sent to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Finance for their input," said Joint Secretary at the MoICS Nabaraj Dhakal.

He said that with growing number of dry ports the government had realised the need of a separate regulatory agency to manage the trade infrastructure.

The country has five Inland Container Depots (ICDs), two Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) and two Container Freight Stations (CFS) while two ICDs, one ICP and a CFS are being developed.

These trade infrastructures are managed by the Nepal Inter-model Transport Development Board (NITDB) – a government enterprise - which invites private sector companies to operate the ports and stations.

With the establishment of the authority, the regulator and operator will be separated.

"Private sector has shown interest to construct and operate the dry ports in different locations in the country. Since it’s a logistic business, the government has decided to remain only a regulator and allow private companies to run the port business," said Dhakal.

He said that the authority would replace the NITDB as the regulator and set new standards for the construction and operation of ports.

The first dry port was established in 2000 in Sirsiya, Birgunj of Parsa district which came into operation in 2004. Other dry ports or ICDs are in Biratnagar, Bhairahawa and Kakarvitta, and the fifth one at Larcha, Sindhupalchowk at Nepal-China border will come into operation within a week.

Similarly, dry ports in Timure of Rasuwa district at Rasuwagadhi border and Dodhara, Chandani of Kanchanpur district are also being constructed. The government has also proposed dry ports in Mahendranagar and Nepalgunj at Nepal-India border, and Yari, Nechung, Kimathanka and Olanchungola at Nepal-China border.

Likewise, Birgunj and Biratnagar have ICPs, and the third one will be built in Bhairahawa.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 May 2019.