ISLAMABAD: Collector Zulfiqar Ali Chaudhary visited the newly-constructed building of the Islamabad airport on Wednesday and held an in-house meeting of the Customs officials at Customs House . The main objective of meeting, chaired by the collector, was to chalk out a programme for operational readiness and nominate the focal persons to keep an active follow up with the stakeholders.
Collector Zulfiqar Ali Chaudhary visited the airport to gauge out operational readiness of all the facilities falling under Customs controls and enforcement. The visit was planned to take up all pending matters then-and-there with the Civil Aviation Authority and energizing efforts in wake of the recent deadline set for inauguration of the airport.
The collector was accompanied by a team of Air Freight Unit’s (AFU), comprising additional collectors, assistant collectors, superintendents, inspectors, support staff and the counterparts from the CAA. The Collector of Customs was briefed on the status of different airport facilities and systems. He also examined facilities at Passenger Terminal Building and Customs Cargo Complex.
Zulfiqar Ali Chaudhary appreciated the modern technology introduced by CAA in the instant undertaking, both with regards to advance controls and passenger facilitation. “Complete pre-scanning of arriving baggage and Baggage Handling System (BHS) at departures shall empower Customs officers to exhaust their functions more efficiently and at the same time it shall cause less obstruction to the confide passengers”, said Collector of Customs.
Collector Customs also lauded the pace of work at Passenger Terminal Building and urged upon the immediate provision of glass rooms inside International Arrivals and Departures for round the clock surveillance of flights as communicated earlier by the Customs. Moreover, allocation of one additional room at International Departures was also discussed by the Collector as departure shift is usually larger because of including drug cell and rummaging squad members.
However, according to the Collector of Customs, Customs Cargo Complex and the adjoining cargo sheds need more concentrated efforts by all the relevant stakeholders for their successful completion and subsequent operations. Collector Zulfiqar Ali Chaudhary pointed out some really slow progress are as to the CAA officials in this regard. He also directed the Additional Collector AFU to ensure that all Customs requirements are immediately taken up after the visit for smooth operationalization at NIIAP.
The collector’s visit was followed by an in-house meeting of Customs officials at Customs House Islamabad.
The meeting was chaired by collector and the main objective of meeting was to chalk out operational readiness and shift plan of both aforementioned facilities and to nominate the focal persons to keep an active follow up with the concerned stakeholders w.r.t. the works still remaining in this regard.
