KATHMANDU, SEP 23 - Following an escalation in pressure from the World Bank to an early operationalisation of the Birgunj-based Inland Container Depot (ICD), the Cabinet today decided to immediately sign a bilateral railways agreement with India.
It is now likely that Indian proposal to operate the railway connecting Birgunj’s ICD as per the Indian Railway Act will be accepted, until a mutually agreed Act is formulated by Nepal.
"The Cabinet withdrew its earlier stance on signing the railways agreement only when the local Railways Act came into being for signing the agreement," said a government source. The new agreement would be inked at the secretary level.
"The proposal of allowing the Indian Act operating in Nepali territory was out of the question," one of the Cabinet members had informed The Kathmandu Post then at the time of rejecting the draft.
However, the government reviewed its stance after the WB - the principal lender for the ICD project - announced its decision to pull out of the multi-million dollar project if the government failed to bring it into operation before its expiry. The project expires this month.
The WB had raised serious concerns over the uncertainty in the materialisation of the Nepal-India Railways Agreement and refused to extend the project.
It even warned of tagging the ‘unsatisfactory’ clause for failing to fulfil the objectives of the WB investment.
The source also said that the Cabinet had directed the Ministry of Transport Management to finalise at the earliest the local Railways Act that it has been drafting at the moment.
The Act, according to sources, is being currently forwarded to India for tying up the railway operation provisions with the Indian Railway Act."It would be approved as soon as the Act incorporates the provisions of Indian railways operations modalities," said the source.
The ICD Project was launched in 1998 with an aim to construct three dry ports in major customs zones of Nepal to facilitate third-country trade and transit.
While the two dry ports based in Bhairahawa and Biratnagar have already come into operation, the fate on operating the Birgunj-based ICD had been hanging in the balance despite the construction of the complex being completed more than two years ago due to delays in materialising the railway agreement. Posted on: 2003-09-22 08:57

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