Money
Rasuwa Customs beats revenue collection target
Rasuwa Customs Office, Timure exceeded its revenue collection target in the last fiscal year. According to the office, the annual revenue collection stood at Rs4.59 billion, 26 percent more than the target.Balaram Ghimire
Rasuwa Customs Office, Timure exceeded its revenue collection target in the last fiscal year. According to the office, the annual revenue collection stood at Rs4.59 billion, 26 percent more than the target.
Gopal Korala, chief customs officer, said that the government had set a target to collect Rs3.63 billion. “As the customs has been witnessing increased trade activities, it has boosted government’s revenue collection,” he said.
“As materials for the construction of Pokhara and Gautam Buddha international airports are imported into Nepal from the Rasuwa border point, the revenue collection has also increased.”
In the previous fiscal year of 2016-17, the customs office had collected revenue of Rs2.92 billion. The government’s revenue through the border point has doubled in a year.
The Rasuwagadhi-Kerung border crossing was opened in December 2014 and has been the only point of bilateral trade between Nepal and China. In August last year, the northern neighbour granted the Rasuwagadhi-Kerung route a status of international checkpoint following intense efforts from Nepali side after Tatopani, the major point between Nepal and China, remained shut due to extensive damage caused by devastating earthquake of April 25, 2015.
Since then, Rasuwagadhi-Kerung route has been the key trading route between Nepal and China.
Despite the fact that Rasuwagadhi is an international customs point connected with China, proper facilities are lacking on the Nepal side of the border. Landslides, dust storms and stones rolling down cliffs are common occurrences.
More than 250 containers pass through the border post every day. However, due to the immigration, customs, quarantine and bank offices being scattered all over the place, businesspeople are having a hard time getting their paperwork done. The customs office is located at Timure which is 1.5 km away from the border. A parking yard for containers is lacking. Whenever a large number of containers arrive, customs inspection has to be done on the roadside.
According to the customs office, work comes to a halt when it rains as inspection has to be done under the open sky. There is no electricity as the temporary yard is located on the banks of a river, and it is difficult to work at night. Besides, there are frequent occurrences of goods theft and damage as the facility is not properly managed, traders said.