October 7: Ten thousand metric tons of urea that was being brought to Nepal from Tatopani customs to fulfill the shortage of chemical fertiliser has been stopped at the northern checkpoint.

A Nepali company Silk Market had purchased 10,000 metric tons of urea and transported it to Shigatse 10 days ago but could not bring the fertilizer to Nepal due to inconvenience at the border checkpoint. Although the Agricultural Inputs Company Limited is about to bring a total of 15,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers including 10,000 metric tons of urea and 5,000 metric tons of Diammonuim Phosphate (DAP), it will still take a few more days for 5,000 metric tons of DAP to reach the checkpoint.

According to the company, it was planning to deliver all the fertilizers to the dealers by mid-October. However, now it will still take time to reach the seller as the fertilisers have been stopped at the checkpoint.

Bishnu Pokharel, spokesperson of the Agricultural Inputs Company Limited said that although the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Supply requested the officials of the Nepal’s Consulate in Lhasa, Tibet to bring the fertilisers in time, the efforts have not materialized. He said that the government of Nepal should hold a high-level discussion to resolve the issue.

Similarly, chief of Tatopani Customs, Narad Gautam, said that there has been a problem in bringing the goods to Nepal even though the Chinese side had assured that all the containers would be released to Nepal.

According to him, along with 10,000 metric tons of fertilisers, more than 1,100 containers are stuck at the checkpoint.

“Containers about 40 feet high are impossible to bring as the road conditions are not good. So it takes a long time as the goods from the big containers need to be loaded in the small containers,” he told New Business Age.

He is of the view that coordination should be done from the diplomatic level to bring all goods into Nepal easily.