The government may allow licenced private "bonded carriers" for transportation of cargo from Karachi ports to Afghanistan in response to Kabul's repeated demand, sources said. They told Business Recorder here on Friday that talks at the highest level were underway and there was a possibility of a significant headway due to enormous increase in volume of cargo.
Currently, only Pakistan Railways is transporting Afghan transit cargo from the ports of Karachi to Chamman in Balochistan and Peshawar in NWFP. However, due to increasing volume of consignments, Pakistan Railways often finds it difficult to handle the transportation effectively.
So, the Afghan government has time and again been requesting Pakistan to allow the private sector to lift cargo from Karachi ports.
The sources said the issue also came under discussion during the fifth session of Pakistan-Afghan Joint Economic Commission, held on July 23-24 in Kabul.
The Pakistani side led by Secretary Economic Affairs Division Khalid Saeed assured Karzai-administration to look into the fresh request of the Afghan government.
Moreover, the sources said a lot of Afghan commercial and non-commercial cargo, comprising food, medicines, chemicals and other perishable items, was being offloaded at Port Qasim, where no proper storage facilities are available for such goods. The matter, they said, had been referred to ministry of commerce for vetting and necessary action in consultation with the Afghan authorities.
And at the moment, the sources added, both sides were working on finalising the modalities of the issue and a decision in this regard was anticipated soon.