According to Sarad Bikram Rana, director of the Inter-model Transport Management Committee, all the primary level works such as land acquisition, technical study and infrastructure design have been conducted. The government of China, in the past, had in principal agreed to assist in the development of the dry port in Tatopani. [break]
Rana informed that the upgradation of Araniko Highway from Lipibazar to the dry port, construction of bridge over Bhotekoshi River and construction of dry port will go hand in hand.
“The dry port will be developed in 8km area from Miteri Bridge to Dumithama,” he told Republica on Monday. According to Rana, the total construction cost has been estimated at around Rs 1 billion. “All the cost will be borne by the Chinese government,” However, the government has to bear the cost of land acquisition.
The dry port, which will be built in an area of 34 hecters, will accommodate a storage house, parking facility for 200 vehicles and a weighing machine that can weigh 60 to 100 tons of goods at a time. “There will also be a customs office along with a residential facility,” Rana said. The existing customs office only has the capacity of 60 containers. “The construction will be completed within 26 months,” Rana said.
The government had acquired 11 hecters of land two and half years ago whereas rest of the necessary land is owned by the customs office. The government spent Rs 600 million to acquire land.
Nepal and China had an agreement to establish the dry port in Tatopani four years back. Two Chinese companies had done the detail project report (DPR). The government had also allocted Rs 500 million in the fiscal year 2009/2010 for the construction of dry port in Tatopani.
The Tatopani dry port has high significance since this is the only route for Nepal-China trade. “Establishment of this dry port will lead to better trade with China and we are hopeful that we would be able to utilize the zero tariff facility that China has provided to Nepal on more than 4 thousand Nepali goods,” Rana said.
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