Two months after completion, Nepal's third Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Birgunj remains unused, mainly because Indian Railways has yet to approve the operation modality for trains carrying cargo. Tracks were tested on 7 March and it may only be a matter of time because the formalities have been completed.
But the ICD could face another problem though. The residents of Sarsiya village development committee say they will not allow the ICD to be operated unless the government meets some of their demands-made when construction began in March 1998. The demands include construction of a dumping site and public toilets and the renovation of the road. Another demand is to employ one member of each family displaced by the construction of the $28.5 million complex.
The new container depot is expected to reduce transit and transport cost of goods moving to and from Nepal by almost 30 percent, and can handle about 40,000 containers annually. It is the largest among the three ICDs in Nepal-Biratnagar and Bhairahawa have container depots that are already operational.