PESHAWAR: A four-member delegation of custom agents led by President Frontier Customs Agents Association (FCAA) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Central Vice President of All Pakistan Customs Agents Association (APCAA) Zia-ul-Haq Shardi called on newly appointed at Directorate of Transit Trade Peshawar, Director of Transit Trade Samiul Haq here at Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Customs House and felicitated him on assuming new responsibilities.
The other members of the delegation included Senior Vice President of the Association Imtiaz Ahmed Ali, General Secretary Mian Wahidshah Bacha.
On this occasion, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, who is also the Vice President of Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), said that the Director Samiul Haq was well aware of the problems of business community as well as the Afghan transit trade issues of the customs clearing agents and hoped that he would played a key role in solving the Afghan transit trade problems.
He informed the Director about problems being faced in transit trade and said that Torkham Border National Logistics Cell (NLS) is building a terminal equipped with modern facilities at the Torkham Border and there was a lack of space due to which many trucks were parked at the border on both sides. He said that the most serious problem was that hundreds of empty containers with trucks had been parked in open fields from several days, due to which there had been a shortage of trucks in Karachi, and the fare, which used to be 150,000 from Karachi to Jalalabad, was now about to Rs 4 to 5 lakh.
He mentioned that during Ashraf Ghani’s government in Kabul the empty trucks were being charged from Rs 50,000 to 100,000 but the Taliban government released all the trucks unconditionally as a goodwill gesture and for a very short time the trucks were being released without any charges but later it was discontinued.
The delegation expressed their concerns on the issues related to transit trade and further said that two-year earlier the former Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the Azakhel Dry Port but unfortunately it could not be made fully operational until now and other announcements of the then premier including export cargo good through a train from Azakhel to Karachi were also not implemented.
The delegation also met with newly appointed Collector Customs Enforcement (Enforcement) Moinuddin Ahmad Wani on assumption of his charge and expressed good wishes to him. The two directors assured of all possible cooperation and said that they will take steps through mutual consultation to solve these mentioned problems.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.