Description

The development objective of the Regional Trade and Transport Facilitation Project for Nepal and India is to decrease transport time and logistics costs for bilateral trade between Nepal and India and transit trade along the Kathmandu-Kolkata corridor for the benefit of traders by reducing key infrastructure bottlenecks in Nepal and by supporting the adoption of modern approaches to border management. There are three components to the project. The first component of the project is modernize transport and transit arrangements between Nepal and India. This component seeks to improve the efficiency of the systems used to manage and control the movement of Nepal's and India's international trade by providing technical assistance to introduce a modern and effective transit regime between the two countries. The second component of the project is strengthening trade-related institutional capacity in Nepal. This component includes trade portal and single window system development, improvement of trade- related laboratories, and institutional strengthening for interagency coordination including financing of Project Coordination Office (PCO). The third component of the project is improving select trade-related infrastructure. This component includes expand and upgrade the Narayanghat-Mugling road section and implement measures for improvement of entire Birgunj- Kathmandu corridor, build a Container Freight Station (CFS) or Inland Clearance/Container Depot (ICD) in Kathmandu, and improve the infrastructure at Birgunj and Bhairahawa ICDs.