The Dodhara Chandani dry port project receives approval for land.

After considerable delay, the Dodhara Chandani dry port and check post project in western Nepal has finally gotten underway with the approval of the provincial cabinet for the facility's construction to take place on forest property.

The government has designated the Rs15 billion project, which is situated in the Kanchanpur district's Dodhara Chandani Municipality, as a national priority project.

The project's environmental impact assessment (EIA) report was approved by the government in 2023.

The final significant obstacle to the project was removed on September 18 when the provincial cabinet authorized the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board to utilize 43 hectares of Mayapuri community forest in the Suklaphanta National Park buffer zone.

When the dry port is finished, it should increase trade between Nepal and India and support the growth of the industrial sector in the west.

The first commercial entry point into India from the northwest of Nepal will be the Dodhara Chandani dry port. The location is 1,200 kilometers from Gujarat state and 245 km from New Delhi, the capital of India. Trade with other Indian states like Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Haryana will be facilitated, according to officials, by the dry port. Additionally, it will improve Nepal's international trade, lower prices, and provide Nepal access to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai, India's largest seaport.

Officials from Nepal claim that shipping cargo to Nepal via these routes will save a significant amount of money.

With connections to the port in Kolkata, the majority of Nepal's trade infrastructure is located in the east. According to officials, future access to further Indian ports may be made possible by the development of a dry port in the Sudurpaschim province.

It is anticipated that the project will also minimize the time needed to import goods from India and lower transportation expenses.

The Dodhara Chandani inland container depot will have staff housing, warehouses, administrative buildings, banks, quarantine facilities, and parking areas in addition to the customs office.

According to the master plan, the depot would initially hold 300 freight trucks but can eventually hold 3,000 20-foot vehicles.

There will be an import warehouse that is 7,000 square meters in size and an export warehouse that is 2,520 square meters. The container stacking yard, a sizable open area for container movement, will occupy 10,000 square meters, while the railway warehouse will be 17,500 square meters.

A further 126 hectares will be constructed for parking lots and additional warehouses during the project's second phase.

The World Bank carried out a feasibility assessment fifteen years ago for the proposed dry port in Kanjabhoj in the Dodhara Chandani Municipality, and in 2016 the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board produced an additional report.

"The Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board has been given approval by the cabinet to use the site. Groundwork will start within the next three months with this approval, according to the board's executive director, Ashish Gajurel. "We will now start cutting down the trees."

He added that they had received a letter from the national park asking them to find land in other locations as payment. "If we can’t find suitable land, we will have to provide cash compensation equal to the value of the land."

Gajurel stated that they intend to start operations by opening an office following the Dashain festival. "We will clear the site to create a working environment for the Indian side and write to them to immediately begin the tender process and other related tasks," he stated.

The EIA estimates that 15,057 trees must be cut down in total. Ten compensatory trees must be planted for each tree removed for development projects, in accordance with the Forest Clearance Guidelines. It will be necessary to plant 150,525 compensatory trees, according to project officials.

Gajurel stated that 1,700 trees that have already been identified for destruction must be taken down right away.

An Indian grant will be used to construct the dry port.

The transshipment center would be built in two stages, with the first phase expected to cost Rs8 billion, according to the project. The Dodhara Chandani dry port would be situated close to the Indian border. At Banbasa on the Indian side, a dual dry port is planned.

Roads will connect the first phase, and rails will connect the second. Three years from the date of construction commencement is the timeframe for completion.

On the Indian side, construction has already begun on an access road for Rs3.2 billion that would link to Dodhara Chandani. The access road is being constructed by the Indian government.

The facility was to be built in Chandani Municipality's ward 1; this decision was made by the government three years ago. However, the project was moved after objections from the ward 8 community of Kanjabjoj, where it was originally intended to be constructed. The agreement was made last year when Indian government representatives visited the country, led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The facility would be constructed by them.

In ward 1 of Dodhara Chandani, a four-lane bridge across the Mahakali River and an 8-kilometer access road between Gaddachauki and the Malariya River on the Nepalese side have been constructed.

It is anticipated that the dry port will promote trade between Nepal and India and aid in the industrial growth of the western area. Officials from Nepal claim that shipping cargo to Nepal via these routes will save a significant amount of money.