North Bengal's first dry port begins operation

    Jalpaiguri (WB), Jan 13 (PTI) The first inland
container depot (ICD) or dry port in North Bengal began
operation beside the tea park at Phulbari in West Bengal's
Jalpaiguri district on Wednesday, a company official said.
    An ICD is like a port having facilities for cargo
handling and temporary storage of containers. It would help
hinterland customers receive port services more conveniently
closer to their premises.
    This ICD of Jalpaiguri will be of immense help to
business houses of North Bengal and the Northeastern region.
    Its director Amit Kumar said that though the facility
has started functioning, it will take another fortnight for
full-fledged operations to commence.
    In 2008, the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority
(SJDA) had obtained a land from the Railways near New
Jalpaiguri station the largest railway station in north
Bengal on lease.
    The SJDA divided the land into two parts for setting
up the North Bengal Tea Park on the bigger plot of 50 acres
and the dry port on the smaller one of 24.5 acres.
    The Railway Board agreeing to issue no-objection
certificates to entrepreneurs at the tea park has set the ball
rolling. Without the nod, investors were unable to secure bank
credit to execute their projects in the tea park.
    The viability of the ICD project is dependent on the
success of the tea park. PTI COR BSM
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)