March 13, 2006	Monday	Safar 12, 1427

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PESHAWAR, March 12: Officials and traders on Sunday complained about the delay in building a customs complex and said that official work as well as trade was being hampered.

Official sources said that the Customs Collectorate in Peshawar had sent a proposal for land acquisition at Torkham to the Central Board of Revenue and it had communicated the same to the departments concerned. But so far, no step had been taken to construct the customs station, they said.

Former NWFP governor Sayed Iftikhar Hussain Shah had floated the idea a couple of years ago about building an integrated complex housing all federal and provincial agencies as well as the political administration.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had also taken a keen interest in the construction of the customs stations at Wagha, Chaman, Taftan and Torkham.

Work on other three customs stations was initiated by the National Logistic Cell while work had not commenced at Torkham.

NLC director-general Brig (retd) Akbar Khan Niazi avoided giving any reason directly for the delay but said that he would provide relevant information only when this correspondent visited his office in Lahore.

Currently, customs’ affairs at Torkham are being run from an old building, which is without a proper inspection area. The examination of trade consignments was being carried out in five open areas, belonging to the Khogakhel clan of the Shinwari tribe, officials said.

Keeping in view the considerable increase in the export of Pakistani goods to Afghanistan, the Customs Collectorate had suggested acquiring 84 kanals of land for the construction of a proper custom station near the present customs office at Torkham.

On an average, the customs official currently cleared 300 trucks daily to Afghanistan and as many from that country, said Deputy Collector Abdul Wahid Khan Marwat. He said that the trade volume at the Torkham border amounted to $1 billion.

He said that 85 per cent of the trucks arrive at Torkham laden with goods for export to the neighbouring country.