Shillong, Jan. 23: The process to start the proposed construction of an integrated checkpost at Dawki along the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya has been set in motion after a long wait.

Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju will lay the foundation stone of the checkpost at Dawki at noon tomorrow.

An official of the Land Ports Authority of India told The Telegraph today that the project has been estimated at around Rs 70 crore and will be completed in 24 months.

Around 20.35 acres of land at Dawki has been acquired by the Land Ports Authority of India for this purpose.

The project took time to start as the Meghalaya government was unable to get sufficient land for the checkpost. Around 81km from here, Dawki, in West Jaintia Hills, is one of the major revenue-earning export points in Meghalaya. It is used mainly for coal transportation to Bangladesh.

The checkpost aims at putting in place the infrastructure needed for international trade. The export point would have coal-dumping sites, parking lot for trucks, phone booths, banking network facilities, police outpost and apartments for staff.

Development of checkposts along India's international land border is the Centre's initiative to improve border management by putting in place systems that address both security concerns and facilitate cross-border trade and commerce.

The need for the checkpost was felt after the existing designated entry and exit points on the international borders were characterised by unplanned growth, leading to delays and traffic jams.

The post will be a sanitised zone with dedicated passenger and cargo terminals, providing adequate customs and immigration counters, X-ray scanners, passenger amenities and other related facilities such as service and fuel stations in a single modern complex, equipped with state-of-the-art amenities.

The Centre had planned to develop 13 integrated checkposts at major designated entry and exit points along the country's international land border with Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Seven checkposts will be constructed under phase-I and six under phase-II.

The checkpost at Attari in Punjab on the India-Pakistan border was the first to be completed and inaugurated in April 2012 under phase-I. The checkpost in Tripura along the India-Bangladesh border was the second. It was inaugurated in November 2013.

The Petrapole checkpost on the India-Bangladesh border in Bengal also constructed under phase-I and was inaugurated from Calcutta through videoconferencing by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina in the presence of Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on July 21 last year.

Besides Dawki, the other proposed checkposts that are coming up are Moreh in Manipur on the India-Myanmar border, Sutarkhandi in Assam and Kawarpuchiah in Mizoram, both on the India-Bangladesh border. The other proposed checkposts are Raxaul and Jogbani in Bihar, Hili and Chandrabang in Bengal and Sunauli and Rupaidiha in Uttar Pradesh.