The Hindu Business Line : Integrated check posts: Work on first phase to be over in 3 years

New Delhi, Nov. 7 The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs’ (CCEA) approval on Thursday for setting up 13 integrated check posts (ICPs) on the land borders of the country at a capital expenditure of Rs 635 crore would accord “a renewed thrust” to trade and economic cooperation among neighbouring countries.

The Minister of State for Commerce and Power, Mr Jairam Ramesh, who has personally visited eight out of the 13 ICPs, told Business Line here that for two years he had been underscoring the need to beef up “the pathetic infrastructure” in the country’s border areas to promote trade with our neighbours, in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in particular.

He said that “it is a shame that the infrastructure on the other side of the border in countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar is far superior to the quality of our infrastructure”.

He said that land border trade is 80 per cent with Bangladesh, in India’s bilateral trade of $3.5 billion last year. With Nepal too, the border trade is substantial in the total $2.2 billion bilateral trade last fiscal.

Modern infrastructure

Official sources said that the decision to modernise infrastructure at the ICPs on the Indian side is overdue and part of the country’s ongoing intense engagement with neighboring countries to boost trade and economic cooperation.

They said that some of the tangible benefits of the ICP scheme include improved relations with neighbouring countries, increased volume of trade entry of small buyers/traders, least cost solution, increase in regular trade as opposed to circuitous trade that circumvent normal trade channels, heightened efficiency and customer-friendly one-stop facilities.

The sources said improved systems would enable better reconnoitring and act as a deterrent for illegal activities, besides projecting a better image of the country. All these would get translated into distinct improvement in bilateral and multilateral trade and augmentation of revenue avenues for the respective authorities.

Since the whole concept is being undertaken by the Department of Border Management in the Ministry of Home Affairs, the sources said the proposed project is also a part of overall strategy to manage the movement of goods and personnel in an integrated fashion in the border areas.

Phase I works

With the approval process by CCEA behind, work on Phase I of ICPs such as Attar/Wagha and Raxaul (India-Nepal) would be completed in a span of three years from the date of start of work, the sources said, adding that with the improved infrastructure getting into place in these ICPs, India’s bilateral trade with Islamabad would get altered from the border trade with a positive list on tradable items to normal MFN (most-favoured nation) status trade, ensuring free movement of goods.

Alongside, land acquisitions for Petroapole (India-Bangladesh), Moreh (India-Myanmar) Dawki (India-Bangladesh) and Akhaura (India-Bangladesh) ICPs of Phase I would also be expedited in order to complete the project within the Eleventh Plan (2011-12) span itself, the sources added.

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