Contractor asked to speed up ICP works

 Kathmandu, Dec. 20

Joint Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, Anurag Srivastava, has instructed the contractor of the Nepalgunj Integrated Check Post (ICP) to speed up the construction work and complete the remaining works within a month.

Although the ICP was inaugurated virtually on June 1 this year jointly by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during the former's India visit, construction of water tank and other structures and installation of CCTV connection, networking and fire-fighting system have not been completed.

It is estimated that it would take a month to complete the remaining work, Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board (NITDB), an agency under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS), informed in a statement on Wednesday.

Ashish Gajurel, Executive Director of the NITDB, said that all preparations have been completed by the NITDB for the operation of the ICP and informed that a request has been made to the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu through the MoICS for the transfer of the facility to the NITDB.

A team comprised of MEA of India's Joint Secretary Srivastava, Chief District Officer of Banke, Shrawan Kumar Pokharel, Head of Nepalgunj Customs, Dhruba Raj Bishwakarma, Head of Urban Development and Building Construction Department, Nepalgunj Office, Bijay Keshar Khanal, Superintendents Nepal Police and Armed Police Force of Nepalgunj, and representatives of Land Port Authority of India, ICP Rupaidiha, Rupaidiha Customs, Seema Suraksha Bal of India jointly conducted an inspection of the ICP on Tuesday.

Gajurel said the board has made preparations to bring the facility into operation immediately after it was handed over to NITDB. "We have been coordinating with all concerned agencies and the private sector, so there will not be any problem in bringing the ICP into operation," he said. 

To make Nepal's international trade more simple, orderly and convenient, the governments of Nepal and India agreed in August 2005 to build an ICP on both sides at the four border points (Biratnagar, Birgunj, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj) between Nepal and India.

The construction work of the ICP in Birgunj and Biratnagar has been completed and come into operation but the work to build ICP in Nepalgunj was started in 2020. The facility is spread in 44.6 hectares of land. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 21 December 2023.