A modern infrastructure built on 7.5 hectares of land, spacious warehouses, parking space that fits almost two standard-size football fields and roads wider than the highway outside, that´s Kakadvitta dry port for you.[break]
But much of the potential of the facility, which came into operation in October last year, has remained untapped because of different rentals demanded by the government and the private sector, lack of quarantine posts and the delay made by the state in pushing Bangladesh to change some of its trade policies.
The dry port was built with a Rs 390-million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) mainly to facilitate movement of goods between Nepal and countries like India, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
The government has partially achieved this goal as the average cargo clearance time at the port has come down to one hour from 3-4 hours in the past. This is largely because of the presence of the customs office inside the port compound and automated cargo management system that sets tariff and taxes of goods entering and exiting the country.
Yet, people who clear the cargoes complain they have failed to reap full benefit of the facility as they have not been able to use the rooms built for them.
The government has built a dozen rooms inside the main terminal building of the port for forward and clearing agents so that they can set up offices and expedite the work process. But so far the agents have resisted from moving in, citing unaffordable rentals.
"I have to pay around Rs 11,000 to Rs 12,000 per month if I rent a room inside the terminal building whereas I can get the same space outside the complex for Rs 4,000 per month," Mohan Niroula, a clearing and forward agent, complained.
"Getting there clearly doesn´t make sense to me," he said.
The state-owned Nepal Intermodel Transport Development Committee (NITDC), which operates the dry port, had originally fixed a monthly rental of Rs 730 per each sq m of space inside the complex. Following agents´ pressure, it later reduced the price to Rs 375 per sq m. Now, the agents are saying they will not move in unless the rentals are brought down to Rs 200 per sq m.
"This is their habit. They always demand more," a frustrated official of NITDC told the Republica. Nonetheless, the NITDC management has forwarded their request to the board. "Hopefully, we´ll get positive response soon," the official said.
The transfer of agents from outside the port compound to the terminal building will definitely increase the movement of people at the port. But this will not necessarily lift the business volume at the port, which is still at a low ebb.
Currently, the port handles around 80-90 trucks of goods a day, far lower than the government estimate of 160 trucks.
Clearing agent Niroula, who is also the chief of Mechi Bajrang Trade Concern, calls it "the result of the country´s inability to increase exports to Bangladesh".
One of the main reasons behind building the port was to boost Nepal´s exports to Bangladesh as the country lies at a distance of less than 100 km from Nepal-India border in Kakarbhitta. But in the last three years, Nepal´s exports to Bangladesh have declined from Rs 5.13 billion to Rs 3.47 billion.
The reason, as cited by Yadav Siwakoti of state-owned Nepal Transit and Warehouse Company, is the government´s decision to ban wheat exports, consumption of which has grown tremendously in Nepal due to rise in number of noodle industries.
It is unlikely the government will lift this ban anytime soon. So, many are trying to export vegetables and fruits to Bangladesh. But import duties on select Nepali agricultural products in Bangladesh are as high as 60 percent whereas Bhutanese products enjoy lower taxes, which make our products expensive there.
"For instance, import taxes on Nepali oranges in Bangladesh is as high as 57 percent whereas the same fruit imported from Bhutan has to pay a duty of only around 25 percent," Mohan Siwakoti, president of Agricultural Products Market Operators Committee, said.
Lack of a permanent quarantine post on the Indian side of the border is another problem.
At the moment, there is only one temporary quarantine post in Panitanki, "which sometimes closes its doors after midday even on weekdays", Siwakoti said.
"Sometimes, the traders are even told to send the products to Kolkata´s quarantine post, which takes up to six days. By this time, products such as fruits and vegetables lose their shelf life."
People like Siwakoti think only one body can solve their problems: the government.
Others agree too. "The transformation envisioned by the government through operation of the Kakadvitta dry port will take shape only if the government itself plays a lead role in solving the problems," he said.
Until that is done, the trade facilitation infrastructure that was built by subjecting all Nepalis to debt will fail to justify rationale behind its establishment.
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