ISLAMABAD: Nisar Ahmad Phluarwal, Additional Deputy Collector, AFU, Islamabad said that an uncertainty is prevailing in the operation of the New Islamabad International Airport (NIIA) as it looks hard to open the NIIA on the next given inauguration date of May 03, 2018.
He stated this while giving an exclusive interview to Customs Today.
He said the current situation is unpredictable regarding the relocation from the old airport to the New Islamabad International Airport (NIIA) as, before two days (Friday and Saturday), the authorities asked the international airlines to stop bringing cargos from foreign counties to the Benazir Bhutoo International Airport (BBIA). This has caused the national exchequer a huge loss.
He told CT that the AFU building has been handed over to the Model Customs Collectorate Islamabad, and cargosheds of the Gerry, PIA and other corporations have been completed as it is problematic that some of the sections of the AFU have been shifted to the NIIA which is causing hurdles in the routine function of the AFU. The relocation of old airport to the NIIA must have been devised properly so that function of the current BBIA airport could not suffer the additional stress.
He said the infrastructure of the sections like TTRE, Rebate and PRAL have been developed at the NIIA while the AFU is still under the shifting process. There are many other important agencies who have to shift their infrastructure to the NIIA so as to make the airport functional. He added that all the work of shifting from BBIA to the NIIA must be speedy so that airport could be inaugurated on 3rd of May 2018.
Talking about the exports, he made an export analysis by saying that the current duration (July to March FY17-18) showed +32.20% high growth against the corresponding FY16-17. He further said that the AFU Exports Section reflected +19% achievement during FY16-17 against FY15-16 while it posted +20.23% increase during FY16-17 against FY15-16. The AFU earned Rs27230million from the exports in FY17-18 whereas Rs27071millions was generated in FY16-17 and the AFU got Rs22750million from the exports in FY15-16.
The AFU Exports displayed +18.41% hike of growth during 3rd Quarter FY17-18 against the same period of FY16-17 while it did exports worth Rs8775.13million during the 3rd Quarter of FY17-18 against the exports of Rs7410.34million during FY16-17.
The AFU Exports entertained 7756 Goods Declarations (GDs) during 3rd Quarter FY17-18 while it did 6204 GDs during the identical previous duration of FY16-17.
