Mustang. About a dozen local traders are operating shops selling Nepali and Chinese goods in the Nepali land of the Dashgaja area in the northern Nepal-China border. Small traders from Lomanthang-2 and 1 ward of the border rural municipality have set up shops to sell Nepali and Chinese goods at Koralana Pass, an altitude of 4,610 meters above sea level.
Since the opening of the Nepal-China Koralana Pass on Kartik 27, 2080 BS, local and small traders from the border area of Chosher have started running shops and restaurants in Koralana, said Pasang Bangdi, a young man from Lomanthang-2 Chosher.
He says that he is earning money by selling locally produced goods as well as Chinese goods to domestic and foreign tourists who come here to visit Koralana. .
‘Some people even prepare breakfast and tea and coffee for tourists who have reached the border. A dozen traders are doing business under tarpaulins at the border. We are doing business under tarpaulins in the high, dry plateau land of Koralana. As soon as we wake up in the morning, business starts in the Chinese shops along with the restaurant business. In the evening, we take all the goods that are kept for sale under tarpaulins and store them. This is how our daily life is going on,’ said Wangdi.
He said that he also set up a stall here to do business, and Pasang, who has been doing business in Korla Pass for two months, mentioned that Chinese trade is satisfactory.
Lakpachesung Gurung of Lomanthang (1 Choser) mentioned that they used to reach Ligche, the Tibetan land of Korla, at 9 am every day, buy Chinese goods and return at 2 pm. She informed that there is a rule that China enters the border towards China at 9 am and returns only after 2 pm.
The distance from Dajagaja area to Ligche, the Chinese land, is about 300 meters. She said that she had to bring the goods herself from there. Gurung mentioned that to enter the Chinese border crossing, she could only enter by showing the government-issued border pass.
‘Most of the youth in the village have gone abroad, but I have been running a shop at this border crossing,’ she said. ‘We do business worth Rs. 6-7,000 daily, and the profit is Rs. 2-3,000.’
Gurung said that the number of Nepali tourists visiting Korlanaka has started increasing. After the border crossing opened, she said that she had been running a shop selling Chinese goods during the day under a tarpaulin at the border crossing during the rainy season, and said, ‘It gets cold in winter, and tourists don’t come, so I have been going down to Pokhara to do business in the winter months. Goods here cannot be taken down except for household purposes, customs stops them, that’s why I stayed here to see if I could earn a few bucks.’
Doing business at the Koralana border crossing is equally challenging. Gurung said that doing business in the dry, high-altitude plateau for a long time can cause dizziness. She said that some tourists who have come to visit the border crossing have fallen ill due to dizziness, and even though the government has opened the border crossing, the health problems of traders and tourists living here are still being faced with.
Traders say that traders and tourists have suffered due to the lack of drinking water and reliable toilets at the border crossing. Gurung informed that the Chinese government has provided drinking water facilities to traders who are doing business at the border.
Traders say that although temporary toilets with weak structures have been built at the Korlana border, they are not reliable. Although there is a place to sell goods from China at the border, they say that setting up stalls on open plateaus causes health problems due to air, smoke and dust. Tourists throw garbage indiscriminately and traders fail to manage waste, causing the border to become smelly and polluted.
Since the Nepal-China border was opened for two municipalities in Upper Mustang in northern Korlana, more than 3,000 people have so far received border passes to depart for China. Karmanamgyal Gurung, Ward Chairman of Lomanthang-2 Chosher, informed that the import and export of Nepali and Chinese goods for commercial purposes has been completely banned for the past five months through this checkpoint, which was opened for the citizens of Upper Mustang to buy household goods.
He said that some people have lost their livelihoods after the customs did not allow them to bring and sell goods through the checkpoint. Ward Chairman Gurung stressed that it would not be enough just because the border crossing was opened, and for that, the government should build the necessary infrastructure for customs operations and make import and export easier.
Karmatuk Gurung, a small trader from Lomanthang-3 Thingar, expressed his sorrow that they were in trouble after the Nhechung Customs located in the Nepal-China Korlana did not allow local traders to bring goods for commercial purposes. Despite the opening of Korlana, which has been closed for four consecutive years during the COVID pandemic, the citizens of Upper Mustang have complained that they have not received much facilities.
The Nhechung Customs Office has stopped collecting revenue since last December, one and a half years after the border crossing was opened. A few months ago, a person from Upper Mustang was taken into custody by the Mustang police after illegally importing a large quantity of electronic cigarettes ‘Vape’. After that, the customs office banned the sale and distribution of goods from China, Ward Chairman Gurung informed.
Lomanthang Rural Municipality Chairman Tasinarbu Gurung pledged to take the initiative with the government to find a solution to the legal complications and difficulties faced in the sale of goods from Korlanaka.
‘Nepalese used to import groceries, cosmetics, beverages, agricultural equipment, furniture and other goods from Korlanaka. Meanwhile, local agricultural products from Nepal were exported to China. Now, such imports and exports have completely stopped,’ he said.
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