KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today inaugurated Chobhar Dry Port, built with the objective of facilitating the country’s international trade.
Prime Minister Deuba inaugurated the port by allowing three cargo vehicles to enter in the dry port. At the ceremony, Prime Minister Deuba expressed confidence that the construction of dry port would be a milestone and hub for international trade.
He expressed the belief that it would play a crucial role in facilitating the export trade and that the availability of customs clearance, quarantine and other services in one place would help reduce the cost and reduce the administrative process.
Stating that cumbersome administrative process is still a problem in Nepal’s high foreign transit, the Prime Minister said that such quality trade infrastructure would help to address it.
“Dry ports and integrated check posts are important structures to make trade infrastructure management and competitive by developing the country’s foreign trade in a sustainable and balanced manner,” said Prime Minister Deuba. “We have been giving priority to upgrading the corridor.”
Prime Minister Deuba said that trade deficit could be reduced by increasing the competitiveness of Nepal’s industrial goods and exporting Nepali goods to the international market. He also said that it would attract domestic and foreign investors and would help in industrial development and job creation in the country.
The Prime Minister assured that the government was committed to creating a conducive environment for investment and industrial development in the country, bringing various programs for the improvement of necessary policy and procedural framework and giving continuity to it.
On the occassion, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that determination should be made to make Chobhar dry port an export hub and not an import hub. Stating that the economy based on remittances and imports is a risk for Nepal, he mentioned that the port should be the focal point of exports.
He is confident that the port will be connected to Kathmandu directly from the sea by road as soon as it is inaugurated today and it will make a significant contribution to trade facilitation.
Presenting data on imports and exports at the function, Finance Minister Sharma said that foreign imports stood at Rs 1.38 trillion as of mid-March this year, an increase of 38 percent over the previous year. He said that the export has reached Rs 147 billion in the last eight months, adding that there has been some improvement over the previous year.
According to Minister Sharma, the war between Russia and Ukraine also posed a serious challenge to Nepal’s economy. He mentioned that the country has reserves of Rs. 9.4 trillion till mid-March and it is in a position to purchase goods for six months.
The Chobhar port is divided into two sections—export-import and domestic. The export-import section can accommodate 116 20-foot equivalent units (TEU), an inexact unit of cargo capacity often used for container ships. The domestic area has parking space for 86 trucks.
In order to use the Chobhar dry port, container trucks have to be equipped with GPS vehicle tracker devices and locking systems. The GPS records container movements all along the shipping route.
The Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board will operate the newly built dry port at Chobhar for the time being.
