Government planning dry port in Kathmandu

Ministry of Commerce and Supplies is planning dry port in Kathmandu.
"We have started talks with the World Bank for a dry port in Kathmandu for smooth trade," said joint secretary at the ministry Toya Narayan Gyawali.
"After the discussion with the World Bank, we could come to the conclusion that it will be viable project or not for the trade facilitation," he said, adding that the ministry has also prepared a 16-point programme for the next fiscal year.
"The programme includes production, developing new trade route and construction of international exhibition centre in Kathmandu," according to Gyawali. "The ministry has also planned to engage some three ministries — Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Agricultural Development and the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation — in the implementation of Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS)."
The ministry is solely responsible for promoting the NTIS — that was introduced in 2010 to boost production and exports of 17 goods and services with high potentiality — currently.
Likewise, the country has to concentrate on service trade also to bridge the trade deficit gap. "The ministry has categorised the imports into three groups," he said, adding that the imports of essential goods, low produced goods and luxury items. "The essential goods could not be replaced however, the low produced could be substituted by boosting production at home," Gyawali added. "However, the rise of luxury goods import has to be checked."