Proposal for setting up ICD sent to Finance Ministry

AMRITSAR: A proposal for setting up Inter-Continental Container Depot (ICD) for giving a boost to bilateral trade with Pakistan has been submitted to the Finance Ministry for approval, a senior official said.

The proposed ICD is aimed at giving an impetus to trade between India and Pakistan through land route.

"An elaborate proposal to set up ICD has been prepared and forwarded to Union Finance Ministry for its approval as there is dire need to tackle heavy flow of trade through the land route," Custom Commissioner (Amritsar) K K Sharma said.

If Pakistan decides to grant MFN status to India, the newly built Integrated Check Post (ICP) will not be able to handle the flow of trade.

"Therefore, there is a dire need to carry out trade through containers between two nations," he added.

Once ICD is developed, the trade between India and Pakistan will get a boost, Sharma said.

Traders in Amritsar have been demanding that trade should also be carried out through containers between India and Pakistan and sought setting up of a dry port at ICP for the purpose.