SHARANA: The revenue of customs department of southeastern Paktika province has drastically increased during the past four months as compared to the same period last year.
Paktika customs director Syed Saad Maluk told Pajhwok Afghan News during an exclusive interview that the Ministry of Finance had set them 160 million afghanis target for last year but had increased the target to 387 million for this year.
During the first four months of last year, Maluk said his department’s revenue collections stood at 51 million afghanis compared to 75 million afs collected during the same period this year.
About the reasons behind the surge in revenue, he said: “The main reasons include the establishment of a new customs branch at the Angoor Ada area and the reopening of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border crossing.”
He said the closure of smuggling routes and the appointment of skilled personnel also contributed to the increase in revenue.
He said only the Angoor Ada customs office collected one million afs in revenue during the previous month.
“I have prevented middlemen, powerful individuals and corruption in customs offices and it has also a positive impact on the revenue,” said Maluk, who called a lack of building for the customs department as big problem they faced.
“We don’t have own building for the customs department and the issue somehow delays our affairs.”
He said precious stones, salt and other goods which had been seized while being smuggled to Pakistan were on the verge of extinction due to a lack of building.
He said he had requested security forces to close smuggling routes against vehicles.
The Paktika customs department had collected 200 million afghanis in revenue last year.
