SIALKOT: Collector Customs Sialkot Qurban Ali Khan has assured the early activation and proper functioning of the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) by announcing some lucrative export and customs-related incentives for Sialkot exporters.
He announced this while addressing a largely attended meeting of Sialkot business community at Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here the other day. All the procedures were being simplified to motivate the Sialkot exporters to come to Sialkot EPZ, he said. The Collector Customs Sialkot added that the Model Customs Collectorate Sialkot (MCCS) has finalised a multi-phased plan to develop the Sialkot EPZ and the MCCS would soon announce some attractive incentives related to exports and customs and MCCS would soon announce a public notice within next couple of days in this regard.
He said that the Sialkot EPZ was presenting a deserted look, as it could lure only seven exporters of Sialkot to set up their factories at Sialkot EPZ during the last 14 years since its establishment in 2000.
The Collector added that all the stakeholders were being taken onboard to resolve the Sialkot exporters related to Sialkot EPZ. He announced that there would be no de-notification of Sialkot EPZ. He said that the EPZ Law 1980 was now needed to be amended to promote the EPZs in the country.
Qurban Ali Khan also formulated a standing committee comprising senior officials of Customs Department and Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) to resolve all the prolonged perturbing problems of Sialkot exporters after the mutual detailed discussions, saying that this standing committee would hold meetings on monthly basis to resolve all the issues, in this regard.
The Collector also added that the flaws were also being removed from the WeBOC System on the complaints filed by the Sialkot business community, as the FBR was making hectic efforts to simplify the WeBOC system. He said that the payments of the rebate claims submitted through the WeBOC system were being made, as all the automated old rebate claims (from September 2010 to December 2013) have been cleared and their payments have also been made to Sialkot exporters. He said that the WeBOC rebate submission system was also being upgraded on priority for facilitating the Sialkot exporters, which are the “Roaming Ambassadors” and had been earning the precious foreign exchange to the tune of US$ 1.8 billion annually.
The Collector asked the concerned officials to ensure the all the intimations to Sialkot exporters through E-mail instead of using the old traditional way of sending letters through post manually, besides, giving the shipping bill numbers on the back side of all the cheques of the rebate claims to facilitate the exporters on priority.
Qurban Ali Khan revealed that system of payment of WeBOC rebate claims has already been streamlined and all the rebate cases are being sanctioned purely on merit at MCCS. He also nominated a senior customs official as a focal person to resolve the Sialkot exporters’ rebate claims cases at Sialkot level, as the several such cases had been lying pending at Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore as well.
The Collector disclosed that as many as Rs 3 billion were needed to ensure the payments of the rebate claims till June 2015, out of which Rs. 931 million had already been paid to the Sialkot exporters, saying that MCCS gets as many as 2500 to 3000 rebate claims every month by Sialkot exporters.
On this occasion, the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) declared Collector Customs Sialkot Qurban Ali Khan as “True and Trusty Friend of Sialkot Business Community” and all the participants had a big clap for the Collector by standing up from their seats.
Additional Commissioner Customs Sialkot Khawaja Khurram Naeem, Deputy Collector Customs Sialkot Asdaq Afzal, Assistant Collectors Customs Sialkot Palwasha Syed, Syed Adil Karim, President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Fazal Jillani, SVP Mir Alamgir Meyer, Chairman Pakistan Gloves Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PGMEA) Muhammad Younas, SVC Sheikh Ejaz Ahmed Jammu and other were also present on this occasion.
