MULTAN, Nov 29: The Multan collectorate of customs, sales tax and central excise is disposing of overdue rebate cases on emergency basis, a handout issued here on Thursday said.

It was further claimed that the export rebate cases were being disposed of within the week.

The handout also claimed that exports had been increasing with every passing month since to the improvement of facilities at the dryport.

Exports worth Rs7 billion were handled at the facility, and Rs17 million deposited in taxes, during the year 2000-2001. Also imports worth Rs2 billion were cleared at the dryport after charging Rs173 million in custom duty and other taxes.

By comparison, exports worth Rs3 billion had been handled so far during the current fiscal year and Rs7 million collected as export surcharge. The dryport had also earned Rs39 million as custom duty and other taxes on the clearance of imports worth Rs569 million.

The handout said the government had granted no-objection certificates to the chemical laboratories of Bahauddin Zakariya University and the Institute of Textile and Handloom Technology, Multan, for testing and certification of export goods.