PESHAWAR, May 23: Privatization Minister Altaf M. Salim said on Thursday that the government was considering adopting comprehensive measures to end the misuse Afghan Transit Trade (ATT).
Addressing the members of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here, the minister said that two-member ministerial delegation of Afghanistan, which recently visited Pakistan, was apprised of the measures Islamabad wanted to take to control the misuse of ATT facility.
He said that apart from asking the Afghan government the list of items need to be imported through ATT via Pakistan, the visiting delegation had also put forth certain other proposals to help Pakistan control the misuse of the facility on the part of the smuggling mafia.
According to the proposals presented to Afghanistan, the minister said, upper limit had been proposed to be fixed for importing goods under the ATT. Goods imported under the transit for Afghanistan beyond the maximum limit would not be allowed passage to Afghanistan, hence, in such a situation Kabul would need to convey its demands for any specific item.
Besides, he added, items imported into Pakistan for their onward transportation to Afghanistan would be subject to full payment of taxes and duties. The money collected so would be refunded in total to the importer after the consignment was transported to Afghanistan.
“These measures would effectively help the government control the misuse of smuggling,” said the minister.
The steps would not only ensure delivery of ATT consignments to Afghanistan but would also help the government keep check on the re-entry of goods to Pakistan once transported to Afghanistan.
Altaf Salim said the Planning Commission had compiled data viz-a-viz reconstruction of Afghanistan and for the same purpose a separate cell had also been set up at the federal government level to facilitate the business community interested in taking part in Afghanistan’s rehabilitation process.
On this occasion, he also asked the business community to take effective part in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and utilize the business opportunities to their benefit.
He said that though government’s annual revenue stood at around Rs400 billion, whereas, at the same time, the government suffered revenue loss of Rs140 billion because of irregularities in KESC, UBL and Wapda, which separately caused Rs88 billion, Rs30 billion and Rs 32 billion losses, respectively.
“Government could have raised Rs540 billion revenue during the current financial year if these departments had not caused financial losses,” said Mr Altaf, according to a press release issued by the SCCI here on Thursday.
Earlier, SCCI president Malik Zahid Hussain in his address of welcome dwelt at length the issues and problems confronting the trade and business circles of NWFP.