The Hindu Business Line : `Setting up integrated check posts will boost border trade'

India's engagement with its neighbours belonging to SAARC region, as also with Thailand and Myanmar, would get a shot in the arm following the recent decision of the Union Cabinet to set up thirteen integrated check posts (ICPs) at identified entry points on land borders.

Talking to Business Line here, on the new initiative as also an Empowered Steering Committee (ESC) as a precursor to the setting up of Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI) for overseeing the construction, management and maintenance of ICPs, the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, said that this is the "first time we have taken a decision to create infrastructure on the borders" for facilitating trade among contiguous countries.

He said the 13 ICPs with one on India-Pakistan border, four on India-Nepal border, one on India-Myanmar border and seven on the India-Bangladesh border would help effect "a paradigm shift that we are not interested in border trade on items like camel hair and other trinkets, but are interested in promoting trade through border centres" that are modern with fast clearance of cargo as their basic remit.

For transformation

Mr Ramesh said, "Border trade does not mean only trade restricted to a few items as in the case of Myanmar at Morea border, where 22 items dominate the trading or Nathu La pass, where we allow 15 items to be exported and 29 items to be imported from China. We have to get out of this list-based approach to trade to effect a true transformation in volume and diversity of goods exchanged across bordering regions."

The Minister said that after his recent visit to Sikkim and Manipur he has written to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, that "we should have a negative list perhaps" of a few sensitive items and the rest of which should be traded without much hassles among neighbours for ensuring regional integration in a holistic manner and reaping the gains of regional trading agreements.

He said the cost of setting up 13 ICPs has been estimated at Rs 734 crore by RITES. Of these, four ICPs at Petrapole, Moreh, Raxual and Wagah are proposed to be set up in Phase I at a cost of Rs 342 crore. In Phase II the balance nine ICPs at Hili, Chandrabangha (both in West Bengal) Sutarkhandi (Assam), Dawki (Meghalaya), Akaura, (Tripura) Kawarpuchiah (Mizoram), Jobgani (Bihar), Sunauli (UP) and Rupaidiha/Nepalganj (UP) would be established at a cost of Rs 394 crore.

Regulatory agencies

Stating that the existing infrastructure available at these points on the Indian side was no patch on the other side of the border, Mr Ramesh said the ICPs, once established, would house all regulatory agencies like immigration, customs, border security along with support facilities like parking, warehousing, banking and hotels in a single complex.

Although, the issue had been hanging fire for three years, Mr Ramesh said the recent decision by the Cabinet Committee on Security and the Union Cabinet was a pointer to the fulfillment of his promise at the Saarc Ministerial Council in April this year, when he said India would be setting up 13 ICPs soon.

Officials said that the Ministry of External Affairs has recommended the four ICPs on India-Nepal border and the cost of ICPs on the Nepalese side be funded by the Ministry estimated at Rs 119 crore. They said while the Department of Expenditure has agreed in principle for setting up of ICPs with modern amenities, setting up of LPAI is not being countenanced currently, as it would exact overhead cost on the project.

However, as the LPAI might take time to come into being, it is imperative to have a suitably empowered body to ensure that the work on the ICPs could start forthwith. The Empowered Steering Committee would be headed by Secretary, Border Management and would include Secretaries or senior representatives from the Ministries of Finance (Expenditure &Revenue), External Affairs, Commerce, Defence, Road Transport and Highways, Planning Commission and Railways, they said.

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