Dry ports to have Customs Care system in 12 months: FBR chief

The Customs Care System will be installed at all dry ports of the country, including the Faisalabad Dry Port within next 12 months to facilitate the regional importers to deposit the duty and clear their cargo locally after its assessment through this system, said Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Abdullah Yousuf.
He was addressing the FDPT trustees, local importers/exporters, and customs officials at the Faisalabad Dry Port here last Wednesday night. He said that a Kuwait-based company, which had successfully installed the Care system at the Karachi Port, had now given a bid to installation of these system at all dry ports of the country.
He also said that after installation of a big scanner at the Port Qasim, three private terminal operators of Karachi have now decided to install the big scanners at KICT, PICT, and KPT.
Faisalabad Dry Port Trust (FDPT) Chairman Sheikh Ashfaq Ahmed while putting the demand for installation of customs Care system at dry ports had also diverted the attention of the FBR chief that large quantity of scrap and old machinery parts have been lying at the Faisalabad Dry Port seized by Customs as banned items.
Similarly, more than 100 cut and weld and tempered cars are also impounded by customs, which should be disposed of through early auction or sold out after receiving actual customs duty and penalty of 30 percent.
He invited the attention of the FBR chief towards the unwarranted order of the Karachi Customs that the carriers lifting import cargo from Karachi have been bound to lift the cargo only for their respective dry port and they cannot lift the imported cargo from Karachi to other ports.
The FDPT chief said that at the request of Pakistan Dry Ports Association, the FBR chief had issued necessary instructions and Customs Chief Collector Shahid Rahim Sheikh had also issued a directive, but Karachi Customs is not implementing these orders.
He told the FBR chief that before inception of Faisalabad Dry Port, there were only a dozen exporters here, which have now been increased to 1,100. He said that Faisalabad Dry Port Custom Clearing Agencies, Import and Export Houses of Faisalabad have provided 50,000 jobs to people, besides making a sizeable contribution to the social sector.
He said the Faisalabad Dry Port has now emerged as the biggest dry port of the country set up in the private sector, which handles 33,000 export cargo containers and 5,500 import consignments per annum having a value of over Rs 80 billion.
Abdullah Yousaf ordered the Faisalabad Customs collector to reduce the reserved prices of the seized vehicles and dispose them of through auction. He also ordered that the vehicles registered with any of the bonded carrier for lifting of the export cargo should not be forced by the Karachi Customs for their registration there and directed Faisalabad Customs Collector Fazal Yazdani Khan to pass on these orders to Karachi Customs for strict compliance.
He also ordered that Karachi Customs should not create any hurdle for lifting the import cargo by registered transporter of any bonded carrier for any dry port. He also announced that the Faisalabad dry port will be given due representative in the FBR advisory committee.
The FBR chief fully agreed with the demand of the FDPT chief that the seized scrap/old machinery parts and impounded vehicles by customs lying at Faisalabad Dry Port should be disposed of through public auction. He also agreed to reduce the reserved price of the seized vehicles to give an impetus for their early sale.
Before conclusion of the meeting, FDPT Vice Chairman Muhammad Saeed Sheikh presented the shield to chief guest while FDPT Export Committee Chairman Mian Muhammad Latif gave a vote of thanks to Abdullah Yousuf for his visit to the Faisalabad Dry Port.
Prominent among those who attended the meeting were: Trustee Syed Faheem Mehmood Shah, Malik Muhammad Anwar, Tausif Bari, Muhammad Saeed Sheikh, Chaudhry Muhammad Siddique, Chaudhry Muhammad Boota, chairman, Custom Agents Group; and FCCI Senior Vice President Muhammad Saleem Akhtar.