Collector says Pakistan Railways needs to get extra efficient to save upcountry ports in absence of SRO-565
LAHORE: The Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Lahore Appraisement has exceeded the revenue collection target by collecting Rs 55 billion, registering a two percent growth.
Talking about the performance of the collectorate and the challenges it is confronted with, Lahore Appraisement Collector Muhammad Zahid Khokhar said that since the SRO-565 has been made ineffective in Budget 2015-16, the Pakistan Railways must get extra efficient to save the upcountry ports, including Mughalpura Dry Port.
Talking exclusively to Customs Today, he said, “We collected Rs 510 million customs duty in just one day of the financial year 2014-15. Overall, we collected Rs 551 million, including sales tax, federal excise duty on import and income tax, in just one day.”
He said that as a result of collective efforts, the collectorate was able to collect a major chunk of revenue in one day that normally takes about a month.
“Mainly, the revenue proved decisive in exceeding the Lahore Appraisement target,” the collector explained.
Replying to a question, he said that the Lahore Appraisement collected customs duty to the tune of Rs 3.6 billion during the month of June against the target of Rs 3.1 billion; Rs 4.4 billion as sales tax against Rs 3.6 billion; and Rs 718 million as income tax against the target of Rs 445 million.
“Overall, we were to collect Rs 7.2 billion, but we collected Rs 8.7 billion during the month of June 2014-15. The board has given us a target to achieve revenue of Rs 53.9 billion, but we collected Rs 55 billion, exceeding the target by 2 percent, which is very rear. It was an extraordinary thing that the target was achieved.”
To a question, he said that throughout the year, his collectorate adopted an open-door policy and importers and exporters felt free in discussing their trade-related issues.
“Importers came to me and discussed their issues and they were given solution to their problems immediately in order to keep the process of smooth trading through the port intact,” he stated.
To a query, Zahid Khokhar said that importers had to face difficulties in getting their goods and articles cleared from the Lahore Dry Port, as per unit cost of the goods shoots up due to double freight and carriage charges.
“First, they have to unload their goods at the Karachi Dry Port and then they have to pay additional load and unload, storage and labour charge. Many main industries that deal in thousands of containers in a year complained of per unit cost rising due to the additional freight carriage and port charges,” he disclosed.
He pointed out that after the SRO-565 was made ineffective in Budget 2015-16, the industrialists were free to get their goods and articles cleared from anywhere. Earlier, it was mandatory for the importers to have their consignments cleared from the station where the industry was registered for which the goods and articles were imported, he said.
“Following the cancellation of the SRO, upcountry dry ports, including the Lahore Dry Port, would have to face many challenges,” he highlighted, adding that Lahore’s Mughalpura Dry Port was mainly handling electronic goods’ clearance, but now the importers were not bound to use the Lahore Dry Port for clearance, which would have serious implications for the upcountry dry ports.
“In the current circumstances, the importers would prefer the Karachi Dry Port for the clearance of their imports, which will play havoc with all the port activities, revenues and the labour at ports, while the importers will be at advantage,” he opined.
He, however, added that congestion at the Karachi Port will further deepen. “The upcountry ports were established to reduce the burden at the Karachi Port.”
Zahid said that under these circumstances, only the Pakistan Railways can come to the rescue of these ports.
“The Railways must get extra efficient in order to attract the importers to have their goods cleared at Lahore’s dry ports. Secondly, the Railways must reduce its fare to compete with the bonded carriers,” the collector suggested, adding that the Pakistan Railways would also have to ensure its arrival at least twice a week at the Lahore Dry Port. “Only in this case the Lahore Dry Port and upcountry dry ports can survive,” he concluded.
