By Laxman Kafle
Kathmandu, July 7: Rasuwagadhi customs point, the major trade route between Nepal and China, came into operation from Monday, five months after it was closed.“The trade route has, however, resumed only for one-way import facility,” said Punya Bikram Khadka, chief of Rasuwagadhi Customs Office.
The decision to open the customs was enforced after two countries signed an agreement regarding the health security standards.
The trade point has resumed formally from Monday morning after goods from China arrived at Miteri Bridge, he said.
The customs had remained closed from January 29 after the outbreak of COVID-19 in China.
The way to import all necessary products being supplied by China has opened after the people’s representatives of the adjoining Rasuwagadhi area agreed

to resume the import of all essential goods, he said.
“Four containers weighing about 120 tonnes arrived from China at the customs point today. The goods include readymade garments, sandals, shoes and electronic materials,” he said.
The Chinese side has assured of supplying around four containers every day, he said, adding that they would adopt health protocols before the goods enter the Nepali side.
“Labourers are required to follow health protocols such as maintaining social distance, and wearing personal protective equipment while loading goods on truck.
We are ready to provide PPE to them,” he told The Rising Nepal.
Khadka assured that necessary security measures would be adopted to avoid the possibility of infection. Khadka said that the Chinese side had yet to accept for the supply of Nepali goods and movement of people citing the risk of COVID-19.
“We are still talking with the Chinese side to resume the two-way movement of goods and services.
But the Chinese side has assured us to accept supplies of Nepali goods after assessing the condition of COVID-19 in Nepal,” he said.
About 1,100 trucks carrying goods including clothes, electronic materials and fruits were stranded on the northern border since the end of January when it was closed following the outbreak of COVID-19, he said, adding that there might be goods such as garments and electric goods which are unusable now as the traders had imported these goods targeting the summer season.
He said that few truckloads of fruits were damaged due to closure of customs for a long time.
Traders claimed that about 2,000 tonnes of fruits stranded at the Nepal-China border decayed following the obstruction of trading on the northern border caused by the outbreak of COVID-19.
Earlier, though both the governments of Nepal and China had decided to reopen Rasuwagadhi, the main land trade route with China, to ease the import of fruits and other essential goods, local government of the Timure of Gosaikunda Rural Municipality had obstructed import of goods from China citing the fear of COVID-19 in its area.
Issuing a notice, Ward Chairman of Timure, Gosaikunda Rural Municipality of Rasuwa, Dawa Dindup Tamang, said that they would not allow the movement of vehicles across the border and inside the ward area until and unless COVID-19 came under control.
Talking about the revenue collection at Rasuwagadhi, he said that around Rs. 10 million would be collected daily while importing around 120 tonnes of goods on a daily basis.
The customs office used to collect up to Rs. 150 million revenue a day in the normal period.