PESHAWAR: Torkham Customs Station generates monthly revenue of about of Rs 361 million and nearly Rs 4 billion annually.
Torkham Customs Station Deputy Collector Najeeb Arjumand revealed this, while briefing a group of journalists regarding trade activities in Torkham the other day.
Najeeb Arjumand said that the construction of best quality road from Peshawar to Torkham has increased trade through shortest route to Afghan capital Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan manifold. Before the construction of the road, a truck took more than three hours to reach from Peshawar to Torkham, which now take only one hour and quarter, he added.
The deputy collector said that for speedy clearing of imported goods, Pakistan Customs has recently installed WeBOC system at Torkham Station, which is presently clearing only mineral coal and raw cotton. After the preparation of module, export bound goods will also be cleared from the system later, he said.
Arjumand pointed out that the manual system was taking long time and the clearing agents were used to file GD (Goods Declaration) of the export or import goods, but now they will be filing them electronically and the system will directly refer to examiner and the clearance will now take only 25 to 30 minutes.
For congestion problem at Torkham border, Pakistan Customs has recently shifted the clearance of Afghanistan and Central Asia-bound perishable items from Torkham Customs Station to NLC operated Khyber Border Terminal (KBT) at Jamrud, Khyber Agency, the deputy collector said.
In winter, he said over 500 trucks are cleared on daily basis while in summer the number increased to 800 trucks per day. Due to high demand from 150 to 200 Afghanistan-bound trucks loaded with cement are cleared at Torkham on daily basis, he said, adding that imports from Afghanistan through Torkham border are included fresh, dry fruits, mineral coal and raw cotton.
