Customs office collects Rs55bln, surpasses H1 target

KARACHI: Model Customs Collectorate (Appraisement & Facilitation) West, Karachi has surpassed the duty collection target of Rs44 billion for the first half (July-December) 2020/2021 by collecting Rs55 billion, said a statement on Thursday.

A revenue performance review meeting was held on New Year’s Eve in Model Customs Collectorate (Appraisement & Facilitation –West), Karachi to review the performance during the first half of the fiscal year.

The meeting was attended by the senior officers of the Collectorate. It was noted that the MCC collected Rs55 billion as customs duty during the first half of the fiscal year against the assigned target of Rs44 billion.

The Collectorate collected over Rs147.5 billion as overall revenue during this period against Rs117.2 gathered last year.

Revenue collection through administrative measures like better valuation, post release audit, auction of long-pending goods at ports, recovery of arrears, and finalisation of provisional assessments remained the special focus of the senior management during this period.

Jamil Nasir, collector held weekly meetings in this regard to review progress, provide guidance and identify areas for intervention with the result that collection through administrative measures showed an impressive increase of over 300 percent during H1FY21.

Collector lauded the efforts of officers and officials of the Collectorate who have been performing their duties as frontline workers during the second wave of Covid-19 for ensuring speedy clearance of import cargo.

“Effective monitoring to control misdeclaration, facilitation of trade through reduction in clearance time, open door policy and effective grievance redressal, and strict adherence to the principles of transparency and merit in decision making should continue as important planks of revenue collection strategy,” Nasir emphasised.

He advised the senior officers that they should remain accessible to the importers and their representatives for problem resolution and should take decisions quickly on merit without any fear or favour.