KARACHI, Oct 22 Speakers at a conference were unanimous in their views that the country was losing billions of dollars per annum for not adopting e-logistics in its trade and commerce.

They also stressed there was a great need for the private sector to enhance its level at least to match with the facilities provided by the government.

Leading experts, bureaucrats, technocrats and heads of public and private institutions involved in logistics of sea or land read their papers at a one-day conference and exhibition on “E-logistics — Challenges and Opportunities”, organised by the Dawn Media Group here on Wednesday.

They also highlighted the poor infrastructure facilities throughout the country which was hampering the smooth flow of trade and commerce and resulting in delays and cost burden. It was pointed out that even present level of e-logistics was facing difficulties due to poor infrastructure facilities.

The experts said traffic jams and poor conditions of roads hindered the speed and caused long delays in delivery of goods and services to the destinations. “Only introducing automation and computerisation in public and private sector institutions could not work to achieve the desired results,” they added.

They expressed concern over the low level of e-logistics and automation in the private sector compared to a better level of computerisation in public sector. The poor computer literacy rate had been the main cause of inhibition for using automation in logistics sector whether it may be private or public sector, they pointed out.

Dawn Media Group Chief Executive Hameed Haroon in his address of welcome said that whatever was done in the country had always lacked direction. “It may be Islamic system, socialism or capitalism, all were carried out without any direction.”

He further said that e-logistics could not succeed without having a matching infrastructure to sustain the speed and flow of trade and commerce developed by automation at various levels.

“If cargo carriers or railways could not bear the speed and flow of goods and services coming from ports or industrial units it means that whatever is achieved is lost somewhere else,” he explained.

Amir Zafar Durrani of World Bank said that undoubtedly Pakistan had improved its e-logistics during last two decades, but a lot was yet to be done when compared with world standards where logistics cost was only 6pc whereas in Pakistan it was around 29pc.

“Pakistan is at a lower threshold of the world and this raises the cost of trade and commerce. The country needs to concentrate on domestic transport, IT development in private sector and contemporary in-house logistics,” he suggested.

The World Bank expert disclosed that the country was losing around $6 to $7 billion annually for not adopting contemporary in-house logistics. “If the factory owners skillfully manage their work behind the factory gates by adopting contemporary in-house logistics their cost will come down to a great extent,” he added.

He wondered as to what happened to the much-talked National Trade Corridor Programme, which is badly needed to improve for efficient and speedy movement of goods and services and make trade and commerce efficient. Other speakers were KPT chairperson Nasreen Haq, chief collector Pakistan Customs Muneer Qureshi, Sohail Shams of UMA, Tariq Rangoonwala and Mohammad Ali Rajpar.