The Web Based One Custom (WeBOC) which was launched several months ago at QICT and subsequently at PICT and KICT has yet to come of age. According to information available here on Saturday, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received an unexpected alarming response from the stakeholders on the system, which was abruptly launched, as it has failed to satisfy the trade.
An angry Shaikh Shakeel Ahmed Dhingra, Vice-President, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry is of the view that instead of moving forward and taking advantage of automation "we have gone not one but 10 steps backward. The trade is suffering and the government is losing hundred of millions of rupees revenue everyday."
He said he had been to Islamabad twice and registered his dissatisfaction with the functioning of WeBOC with the FBR but no steps have been taken so far to rectify the defects in the system. According to him, of the at least 280 to 300 containers received daily at QICT, hardly 80 to 100 containers are examined resulting in huge backlog and if the containers continue to arrive at the same pace, soon there will be no place left to accommodate them at the port. The congestion is growing everyday, he said.
When the Pakistan Automated Computerised System (PaCCS) was in operation at the terminals, the Goods Declarations (GDs) used to be cleared within four hours or at the most one to two days but now at-least 10 to 12 days are required for the same function.
At present, WeBOC's poor performance, dwell time, increase in import costs, containers jam at terminals are a focused point of discussion between customs officials, customs agents, importers and exporters. Customs agents say FBR is responsible for this accumulative to the trade community and national exchequer as it launched the system without making it completely automated. Because of its pre-mature launch, the trade has suffered and increased the import cost to 20 per cent as they pay additional charges due to delays in settlement of GDs. Due to congestion at the ports, around 700 containers are jammed increasing the dwell time from three hours to 10/12 days due to staff shortage and limited storage.
Technical flaws in the system have resulted in massive blocking of consignments. Because of semi-automated procedures, the system examines 90 per cent of containers manually as against five per cent five per cent containers, which were previously examined manually.
Dhingra firmly believes that the abrupt implementation of WeBOC at the country's leading ports is creating lots of problems for importers. It has decreased the trade volume because a large number of containers are stuck-up at the ports. It has not only pushed the traders, tax revenues would also be blown and FBR may fail to achieve the tax targets.
Instead of moving forward and addressing the issues, "we appear to be going backwards to the stone-age when the transactions were handled manually." During the previous years, when the trade was automated, country progressed and generated huge revenues for the exchequer, he said.
Although Pakistan customs required two months to address the issues, present position needs immediate solution of the problem. Unnecessary delay in experimenting with the system would leave its impact on pricing of products. When importers pay additional charges, prices of goods and services increase further.
All these issues are inflicting millions of dollars loss on exports, forcing the exporters to pay heavy demurrage. Delay in customs clearance would decline growth of exports to a drastic level. The semi-automated WeBOC has no capability to serve growing trade single-handedly. Karachi Customs Agents Association General Secretary Faisal Mushtaq says Pakistan customs officials themselves don't know how to use the system. Another weakness noticed is that the data security system is not reliable as it is accessible to all officials of Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (Pral).