KARACHI, Dec 19: The Pakistan Post Office is set to launch, on Jan 1, a special service that will be co-branded with a known international name, under which mail will be distributed speedily throughout the world.

According to a press release, an agreement has already been signed and the department’s personnel have been trained for the purpose.

In the first stage, a postmall will be set up in Islamabad. Later on, the postmalls will be established in Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi. Numerous services will be provided to the customers at these malls.

A transaction of $1 billion has already taken place under the joint venture, the press release claimed, adding that the service had already expedited the transmission of money from around the world, besides throwing a spanner in the works of the Hundi system.

The salaries of army personnel will soon be paid through the Post Office Saving Bank. Several projects have been launched by the organization in human resource development, it said.

A five-bed hospital will soon be set up in Karachi for the Post Office employees and their children, it added.

Meanwhile, the director-general of the Post Office called on City Nazim Naimatullah Khan on Thursday and apprised him of his organization’s problems. He informed the Nazim that some of his department’s plots of land had been occupied illegally and by force by certain unscrupulous elements.

Maj-Gen Masood Hasan also told the Nazim that some billboards, fixed permanently in front of post offices, made it difficult for customers to spot and then approach the offices, besides creating a bad impression.

The Nazim promised that he would look into the matters as soon as possible.