Government of Nepal Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (Nepal-India Regional Trade and Transport Project) Terms of Reference for Trade Facilitation and Logistics Adviser April 30, 2014 1
Terms of Reference for Trade Facilitation and Logistics Adviser 1. Background As a landlocked and mountainous country, the international trade of Nepal largely depends upon the transport infrastructures and the transit arrangement with its immediate neighbor, particularly with India. Traditionally government of India is providing the transit services through the port of Kolkata and Haldia connected to Nepalese borders at 15 Land Customs Stations (LCSs). Similarly, altogether 22 border crossings are designated LCS for the bilateral trade with India. However, around 60 percent of the third country trade in volume terms passes only through the border posts of Birgunj-Raxaul which has both road and rail connectivity with the gateway port of Kolkata and Haldia. The National Development Plan (2013-16) as well as the Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS)-2010 have focused on the need of enhancing export as a strategic measures to fight with the scourge of poverty, unemployment and increase the income level of the common people. Particularly, the Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS) has identified four objectives in context of building a successful and competitive export sector in Nepal. These includes; strengthening trade negotiation capacity (especially bilateral), improving technical capacity to deal with the non-tariff barriers (NTB) and other business environment supportive institutions, enhancing the export capacity of inclusive export potential goods and services and finally strengthening the capacity of GON to coordinate and manage Trade-Related Technical Assistance and Aid for Trade (AfT) and to implement NTIS. The IDA of the World Bank has been supporting the Government of Nepal s initiatives to reduce the cost of logistics and improve the environment of doing trade through a number of interventions such as developing transport infrastructures, improving logistics and facilitation measures related to documentation, procedures and border clearances processes. The World Bank s support to GoN has remained through the Non-Lending Technical Assistance (NLTA) Program and the Nepal-India Regional Trade and Transport Project (NIRTTP), signed between GON and the World Bank on July 11 2013. The implementation responsibility of the Project lies with the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) which has formed a Project Coordination Office (PCO) under its control to carry out the daily operation of the Project. The National Trade and Transport Facilitation Committee (NTTFC) chaired by the Secretary, MOCS will steer the project processes from the very beginning and is designated as the Steering Committee of the Project. This Committee has a wider representation from various stakeholders both from public and private sector that the continuing discussions on this forum not only facilitate the implementation of the project but also form a bulwark to sustain the reform in the transport and trade sector of Nepal. In view of enhancing its technical capacity in managing and implementing reform in transport and trade facilitation, the Project Coordination Office (PCO) intends to hire a Trade Facilitation 2
and Logistics Adviser that will support the PCO in taking up the project activities effectively and also provide necessary technical inputs to the NTTFC in meeting its objectives. 2. Brief Description of the Project The objective NIRTTP is to decrease the transport time and cost of logistics for bilateral trade between Nepal and India and transit trade along the Kathmandu-Kolkata corridor for the benefit of Nepalese international trade by addressing the key infrastructural issues in Nepal and by supporting the modern approaches to border management. The main beneficiaries of the Project will be consumers who will benefit from lower prices of imported goods, and traders and businesses in Nepal and India who will benefit from reduced time and cost and increased reliability in export and import of commercial goods. The project is also expected to have a positive gender impact as lower trade costs will improve the competitiveness of Nepal s key export products particularly in the agriculture and garments sectors where a significant number of women are employed. The Project has three components with a mix of physical infrastructures and soft infrastructure that provide inducement to achieve the project development objectives. The first component seeks to improve the conditions of the transport and transit arrangements between Nepal and India as the project will support introducing modern and effective transit regimes, simplification and harmonization of customs and border management procedures, processes and systems. The other interventions would be modernization of trucking services within the Nepalese boundary, particularly addressing the concern of Axle-load control, and promoting reliability of services by enhancing road safety. Altogether 9 million USD (including 2 million USD from IFC) has been earmarked for this component. The second component of the project envisages strengthening the capacity of some key trade related institutions like Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MOCS) and National Trade and Transport Facilitation Committee (NTTFC) to lead the overall reform agenda particularly on trade facilitation. There will be support to the Department of Customs to coordinate the implementation of National Single Window (NSW) while the Trade and Export Promotion Center (TEPC) will be supported to host and run the Trade Information Portal with a view to provide one stop information services to the potential traders, investors and stakeholders having interest in doing business in Nepal. Similarly, the project will also help to develop integrated or multi-functional laboratories as a pilot program to lend support to ease the issues of SPS and quarantines. The overall cost for this component would be around 23 million USD. The third component of the project focuses on development of trade related infrastructure. Of these two are the improvement/rehabilitation and expansion of existing facilities. Upgrading of the Narayangarh-Mugling Highway to two lanes is a major investment proposed under this project. This section of highway is crucial in improving overall logistical efficiency of the 3
Nepalese trade as this section carries 90 percent of the Nepalese trade in volume terms. Road safety, axle load control and environmental sustainability are other concerns to be addresses by the project particularly on this road corridor. Besides, there will be improvement, upgrading and rehabilitation of the two ICDs of Birgunj and Bhairahawa which were constructed with IDA financing during late nineties.. The project also intends to finance the development of a Container Freight Station/Inland Clearance Depots at Kathmandu valley with the facilities of truck parking yard and warehouses. This will be a green field investment for development of physical infrastructure. The total cost of this component is 69 million USD. 3. Duties and Responsibilities The Trade Facilitation Adviser will provide necessary support and feedback for smooth implementation of the project and will report to the National Transport and Trade Facilitation Committee (NTTFC) through the Project Director. S/He will be responsible for suggesting policy reforms, institutional, and operational reform on trade facilitation related issues. The specific responsibilities of the adviser are as follows: Carry out an extensive evaluation of the trade and transport facilitation regime that affects the international trade of Nepal and present key issues, reports and recommendations to NTTFC; Working closely with the Transshipment Adviser, assess the sufficiency of the provisions of trade facilitation and transit arrangements agreed between the Government of Nepal and neighboring countries, and suggest measures for improvement of the provisions in view of enhancing efficiency of import, export and transit operations; Suggest strategic measures in context of acceding to international legal instruments and conventions as well as internationally agreed good practices that support the trade facilitation regime in Nepal; Working with the Transshipment Adviser, explore the possibilities of diversification of transit corridors and transit facilities for Nepal. Provide feedback and technical advice to Nepalese negotiation teams on Trade Facilitation issues in multilateral and bilateral negotiations; Disseminate the benefits of trade facilitation reform and corridor performance improvement to stakeholders including the business community; Identify opportunities for trade facilitation improvement and assist in the prioritization andimplementation of such improvements; Working closely with the NTM Advisor, develop a plan to systematically address non-tariff issues that impact on the competitiveness of Nepalese exports and imports; Assist in the preparation of technical papers on transport and trade facilitation issues; Assist NTTFC to identify key issues and to systematically discuss the trade and transport facilitation agenda; Carry out study on current status of Nepal in trade facilitation, in reference to WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement 2013, and assist to prioritize the measures, prepare appropriate plan and identify necessary assistance to implement them. Provide suggestions and recommendations on policy, institutional and operational matters for enhancing the efficiency in implementation of the NIRTT Project; and Any other tasks as required by NTTFC. 4
4. Qualification Requirement (a) The Trade Facilitation and Logistics Advisor must possess a Master s Degree in Management or Business Administration or Economics or Law and should have served in a relevant professional capacity in the area of trade facilitation for at least 12 years. Practical experience in supporting the implementation of relevant international trade facilitation instruments and familiarity with international trade negotiations will be an additional advantage to the incumbent; (b) Relevant work experience in developing countries, in particular in connection with the public sector. Experience in South Asia is an asset; (c) Must have excellent oral and written communication skills in English; (d) Excellent computer and document processing skills; and (e) Experience with the World Bank Projects or similar in the past will be an added advantage (f) Strong interpersonal skills to facilitate dialogue with various government agencies, engage with senior and technical staff, and the private sector; and (g) Willingness to work alongside and assist national counterparts in a practical and proactive way. 5. Duration of Services The consultant will be initially hired for a period of one year which is extendable based on the performance of services. 6. Deliverables The consultant would be required to submit the report of service rendered within the framework of Duties and Responsibilities (as mentioned in section 3 above) to the Project Director of Nepal-India Regional Trade and Transport Project on a monthly basis. Besides, s/he will also submit the technical papers or documents that have been prepared as part of study in context of his assigned duties and responsibilities. Findings of study and technical reports submitted by the consultant will be the exclusive property of the project. 7. Financial Terms and Conditions (a) The Trade Facilitation and Logistics Adviser (consultant) will be provided with a monthly remuneration as agreed on the contract. Such remuneration will include monthly lump sum amount that includes all overhead, social charges and other associated costs including the local transportation within Kathmandu valley. (b) The consultant will be entitled to get all public holidays. S/He will not exceed 3 office working day absences per month that included 1 day as sick leave and 2 days as home leave. The consultant will not be compensated for any unused leave. 5
(c) The consultant shall be responsible to settle all taxes and duties including the applicable income taxes per the GON rules and regulations. However, the Project Office will deduct the Advance Income Tax (AIT) as per the prevailing rules and regulations. (d) In case of travel outside Kathmandu or outside Nepal, for the project related assignment, the consultant shall be paid the actual travel and lodging expenses and/or a subsistence allowances equivalent to Class I Officer of the Government of Nepal. 8. Selection Method The Trade Facilitation and Logistics Adviser will be selected by using the Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits and Grants by World Bank Borrowers-Jan 2011. The individual consultants will be selected on the basis of their relevant knowledge, experience, qualification, and capability to carry out the above stated tasks. The selection shall be carried out on the basis of comparison of the relevant overall capacity of at least three qualified candidates who have expressed interest for the assignment. The project office will negotiate with the best consultant on terms and conditions of contract including the reasonable fee and other expenses that will be normally in line with the fee applied to the local consultants in similar projects. 9. Facilities to be provided by Project Coordination Office (PCO) Since, this consultant will be required to work closely with the PCO, the project office will provide office space with furniture, computer with e-mail, internet and printing facilities, required office stationery and photocopying facilities. 10. Contact Information The interested individuals to serve as the Trade Facilitation and Logistics Adviser are requested to apply to the following address along with their detailed curriculum vitae with a separate envelope for expected remunerations. The format of the CV can be obtained from the Project Office or can be downloaded from the MOCS website. The Project Director Nepal-India Regional Trade and Transport Project Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Singha durbar, Kathmandu Nepal Tel: +977 1 4211446 Fax: E-mail: Website: www.mocs.gov.np 6