KARACHI, Aug 11: Revenue division secretary-general and CBR chief M. Abdullah Yousuf has said that scanning machines installed at Port Qasim will soon start functioning, which will bring an end to the manual clearance of most of container cargoes destined for the United States.
He said this state-of-the-art technology, which also allowed the US customs to simultaneously have a look into the scanning process, would also be made available for exports to European countries.
Mr Yousuf said already a lot of excitement was going on in the regional countries with regard to the functioning of these scanning machines which were of latest technology and being used for the first time anywhere in the world. “This is also a sort of trade facilitation, as these machines will help remove hold-ups and delays.”
Speaking at a dinner organised by the Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association (PBEA) late Thursday evening, the CBR chief said under the IC-3 programme (container security programme), these scanning machines had been installed at Port Qasim from where around 70 per cent containerised cargo destined to the US was exported. “This will help do away with moving our cargoes to a third country and all transhipments will come to an end.”
He said the government was keen to bring down cost of doing business in Pakistan and one of the major programmes being under taken with the help of the World Bank was the development of National Trade Corridor (NTC). A task force headed by the prime minister is working on it and all stakeholders, such as customs, clearing and forwarding agents, shipping companies, etc., are being consulted.
Mr Yousuf said a study carried by the World Bank disclosed that average global cost of logistics was around six per cent only, whereas it is as high as 29 per cent in Pakistan. Therefore, he said the government was focusing to bring down the cost by removing all sort of handicaps.
In this regard, he said the customs had already taken a lead by introducing a pilot project -- CARe -- at Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT). He said in the next three to four months, CARe would be launched at Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) and Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT).
“This will mean that 80 per cent of imports and exports will be processed and cleared under CARe which helps eliminate 26 steps being followed through manual processing. Under CARe an importer could file electronically and get his goods cleared in couple of hours,” the CB chairman added.
Referring to some of the irritants raised by PBEA chairman Shabir Ahmed in his address of welcome, Mr Yousuf assured that all sort of bottlenecks and delays would be removed by improving procedures and efficiency in the working of Air Freight Unit.He said the government wanted to bring in total change in systems, including customs, sales tax refund, etc., and would like to see lot of issues and irritants as a part of history. As per today, he said only 12,000 cases were pending for hearing as against 80,000 when the CBR initiated to reduce pendency.
“With the introduction of Alternate Dispute Resolution Committee (ADRC), many cases were being resolved out of court, and above all the Self-Assessment Scheme also helped reduce new cases because returns filed are taken as fully and final assessment except five per cent at selected for total audit,” Mr Yousuf pointed out.
He stressed upon the need that both tax collectors and taxpayers should be fair and equitable if such a process had to succeed and taken as permanent system of tax collection.
During the question-answer session, many business leaders raised the issue of research and development (R&D) support being given to some textile sectors. Mr Yousuf assured that the CBR would use its influence to bring about a balance and required amendment by including those who were left out by the ministry of textile industry.
He agrees with a questioner that a level-playing field is essential for all trades, and if one segment gets five per cent R&D the other will automatically suffer and on this account country’s exports will also suffer.