Pakistan Land Port Authority to be functional soon, say officials

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Land Port Authority will be made functional in February next year. It aims at facilitating trade and resolving trade community issues through a well-integrated modern system.

A delegation of the authority and Asian Development Bank said this during a meeting with the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President Hasnain Khurshid here at the Chamber’s House on Monday.

The delegation was headed by a former member of the Federal Board of Revenue Integrated Borders Management and Trade Facilitation expert, Syed Tanveer Ahmad, Human Resource Specialist/Research and Data Analyst, Asian Development Bank Col (Retd) Muhammad Irfan. SCCI Senior Vice President Imran Khan, Faiz Muhammad Faizi, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, SCCI’s Standing Committee on Land Route Chairman, Imtiaz Ali, traders, importers and exporters were present at the meeting.

Hasnain Khurhsid lauded the setting up authority, saying the government’s initiative would ensure facilities to traders under one window operation as well as accelerate the process of trade with Afghanistan and onward to Central Asian Republics.

However, he emphasized that the steps should be taken to improve the border management system, re-launch of cargo train service from Peshawar, enhance scanning machines at all major trade routes and simplify procedures and checking mechanism of goods consignments.

Earlier, the participants of the meeting were briefed about the main purpose of the proposed authority and its role in trade facilitation. A member of the delegation said a draft-Act had been finalized, which was likely to be presented in the Parliament for its final approved. He hoped that the authority would be made operational from February, next year.

Tanveer Ahmad said the authority main objective was to facilitate trade and provide service to traders under one-window operation through an integrated system of different relevant departments.

He said a hefty amount was being spent for infrastructure improvement at Torkham, Kharlachi and Chaman trade routes for that. The head of the delegation stressed the need for Public-Private Partnership for bringing improvement and providing facilities to traders at the border region.

Hasnain Khurshid praised the installation of modern gadgets at trade facilitation stations. However, he said the system was losing its importance for lack of proper facilities, which has also caused many difficulties for the traders.

The SCCI chief said despite the formal inauguration of Azakhel Dry port, the traders faced numerous hardships as it was not fully operational.