Businesses hamstrung by lack of facilities at Azakhel dry port: Sarhadi

PESHAWAR: Chairman Standing Committee of Sarhad Chamber on Railways and Dry port, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi has apprised the newly appointed Divisional Superintendent (DS) Peshawar Railways, Athar Riaz about the problems being faced by business community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to improper functioning of newly constructed Azakhel Dry Port.

According to a press statement issued here on Saturday, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi who is also Director Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) called on DS Railways Peshawar and congratulated him on his appointment. During the meeting, Zia told DS Railways that at the inauguration of Azakhel Dry Port, the business community were assured that One Window operation will be started at the facility while an export cargo train would also be launched for transportation of goods between Karachi and Peshawar. The cargo train, which would have provided many facilities to businessmen dealing in imports and exports of goods and had to transport transit goods from port city to Peshawar, could not be launched after passage of years, Zia mentioned.

Zia said for the last twenty years, export cargo is closed from Peshawar dry port and all the export goods are transported in trucks from Peshawar to Karachi. He said KP is blessed with numerous natural resources like gems, marbles, granite and other items like handicraft, carpet, honey and match sticks. All these items should have been transported from Peshawar to Karachi for export purposes in a cargo train from Azakhel dry port instead of trucks, he added.

Zia said the Azakhel dry port is almost non-functional due to which more than 250 custom clearing agents in KP are still idle and have no work to do or make some earnings for the families. Due to the launching of cargo trains, Pakistan Railway can make a significant generation of funds under the head of transportation charges of export import goods from one end of the country to other. He said due to non-functioning of cargo trains and heavy transportation charges of trucks, a large portion of Afghan Transit trade business has been shifted to Bandar Abbas sea port in Iran.He also informed Railway officials that at Azhakhel dry port there is a lack of facilities for businessmen and export consignments are kept under open sky.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023