Concern voiced at slow clearance of vehicles at Torkham

PESHAWAR: Chairman of Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) Muhammad Zubair Motiwala has appealed to the Inspector General of Frontier Corps, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to take note of the slow processing of vehicles loaded with empty containers at Torkham border.

In a letter sent to IG FC and Secretary Ministry of Commerce Muhammad Sualeh Ahmad Faruqui, chairman PAJCCI said that complaints were being received from the members about the stoppage and slow release of vehicles loaded with empty containers at Torkham border.

He said that this situation aggravated on a daily basis and due to the delays the number of stuck-up containers was increasing at the border point.

“This slowdown is going on and if continued, it would badly affect the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) and bilateral business ties significantly,” chairman of PAJCCI went on to say.

As per reports, currently 2000+ Pakistani trucks are held in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the transportation expenses are increasing due to shortage of vehicles in Pakistan.

The detention charges (120$ -140$) are other expenses, which are also accumulated on a daily basis on every container, raising the costs enormously.

This has not only affected Pakistani businesses, but also Afghan entities engaged in both transit and bilateral trade, Motiwala added.

Meanwhile, Director PAJCCI KP, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi said the business community was facing a host of problems due to slow process in clearance of vehicles at Torkham border.

He said the relevant departments including Pakistan Customs, National Logistic Cell, FC and others should take up this issue and chalk out a viable solution to this problem creating hurdles to the smooth running of business affairs.

Prolong clearance processing is not only causing delay in transportation of vehicles but also inflicting financial burden on the business community to pay extra rent to truck owners and detention charges to companies, he lamented.

Zia said in a recent border meeting of stakeholders of transit trade from both Pakistan and Afghanistan, he also took up this issue with relevant quarters. He requested IG FC to intervene and resolve this matter at the earliest as it had been pending since long.