KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved a project costing €250 million to scan 100 percent imported containers shipping goods under Afghan Transit Trade project.
The project would be completed in three phases by December 2020 and the pilot operation would start in April 2020. Under the project, special scanners would be installed at all crossing points and custom clearing stations used for trade, including Torkham and Chaman border. A special committee has been set up to prepare and forward the project’s PC-1 for approval.
In the first phase of the project, three scanners would be installed at South Asia Pakistan Terminal Port (SAPT), Torkham and Chaman borders.
Subsequently, four scanners at Karachi Port Terminal (KPT), one scanner each at Torkham and Chaman check points and two scanners at Gwadar port would be installed in the second phase of the project by June 2020. The third phase of the project would be completed by December 2020 under which one scanner would be installed at each crossing point — Ghulam Khan, Kharlachi and Lahore — and two scanners would be installed at Sost border. Following the completion of the project, all imported goods containers from Iran and India would also undergo a mandatory scanning on the ports.
