MULTAN: Multan Dry Port has witnessed decline in the import clearances during the first quarter of fiscal year 2016-17.
Sources told Customs Today that the Customs Collectorate is facing clear drop in the import consignments as the Punjab government has imposed 0.9 percent Infrastructure Development Cess. The move by the provincial government has put negative impact on the clearance of import consignments from Multan Dry Port.
Importers are reluctant in the clearance of their import consignments from Multan Dry Port after the imposition of Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess on their import items. Multan Dry Port is also handling less import containers from average numbers after the decision of imposition of Punjab Infrastructure Development cess.
The number of filed GDs from Multan Dry Port in first three months is only 78 during the fiscal year 2016-17.While Multan Dry Port had swiftly cleared import consignments of 130 import batches during the matching period of the fiscal year 2015-16 before the implementation of Punjab Infrastructure Development cess .
Regular Importers have switched from Multan Dry Port to Karachi for the clearances of import consignments to avoid dual taxation on their import consignments.
The Customs Collectorate Multan is also worried on the sudden decline in the import clearances which is also hitting their revenue collection tasks. Multan Dry Port Trust is also facing decline in their income due to less handling of import consignments along with customs.
