GILGIT BALTISTAN: Collector Gilgit-Baltistan Feroz Alam Junajo said that WeBOC has started after long delay and 32 containers containing miscellaneous imported goods have been cleared via Sost dry port during last 15 days.
Collector of Gilgit Baltistan (GB) Feroz Alam while talking with Customs Today said that federal government and especially Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and civil administration of GB extended full support to GB Customs to implement Web Based One Customs (WeBOC) at Sost dry port and cleared 30 pending consignments of local business community.
He said that more than 100% extra revenue could be fetched through WeBOC compared to One Customs clearing system. He added that all the issues have been resolved regarding installation of WeBOC between customs department and local business community. Now the business activity at Sost dry port is functioning normally.
Pakistan Army and Chief Collector North Awais Jawwad Agha intervened to settle the matter which resolved on an accord which consisted of that till ending of cases running against role-out of WeBOC issue in Supreme Court of GB, the work will continue through One Customs clearing system.
Sources added that during last four months at Sost dry port, local importers were not filing GDs of their containers whereas after conclusion those consignments cleared by One Customs clearing system. The Chief Collector North Awais Agha, officials of FC, collector GB and local importers of GB participated in the conclusion session.
The sources informed that the work at GB was suspended since more than 82 days while the trade activities were suspended following the protest of traders against the introduction of the Web-based One Customs (WeBOC) system.
He said that WeBOC system was introduced at the Sost dry port to expedite trade and make it transparent, as is functioning all over the world. The manual One Customs operations had “loopholes” that made tax evasion possible. WeBOC was a requirement under the World Customs Organization and CPEC because as trade expands, the country needs speedy clearance and accurate documentation of data which is not possible through manual operations, the sources concluded.
