Land Customs Stations to be upgraded to boost border trade

NEW DELHI: With a view to boost border trade, over a dozen Land Customs Stations (LCSs) along India's borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal will be upgraded into Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) in next three years for providing better facilities to businessmen.

The Centre will bear the entire cost of the Rs 853 crore project as per a decision taken at an inter-ministerial meeting here recently, a Home Ministry official said today.

The project to upgrade 13 LCS is aimed at facilitating border trade by offering better and additional facilities at ICPs for traders and businessmen.

The ICP is a sanitised zone with state-of-the-art, dedicated passenger and cargo terminals comprising adequate customs and immigration counters and X-ray scanners.

Passenger amenities like waiting areas, restaurants and refreshment areas, duty-free shops, parking, warehousing, truck-parking, container yards, offices of transport and logistics companies, banks and financial services, dormitories and all related facilities like service stations and fuel stations are likely to be provided at the ICPs.

Though the project was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) two months ago, the funding pattern had to be decided considering the security aspects and sensitiveness of the project.