Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has indicated that timely opening of dedicated cargo gate at Wagah-Attari border is very vital for Pakistan’s trade and economy as there is a huge potential for Pakistan’s exports through this route.
In the recent bilateral trade meeting between commerce ministers of Pakistan and India, which was held in Islamabad, FBR Chairman pointed out Pakistan customs was ready to clear containerised cargo at Wagah Customs Station. He said sufficient expertise was available to deal with it. However, National Logistic Cell (NLC) would have to put up enough infrastructure and facilities to handle containers at the terminal, like enough hard standing cranes or gantries and fork lifters though some were available at present. FBR’s official briefing summary made available to Profit shows FBR has highlighted, “NLC is currently developing infrastructure on the Pakistan side. NLC’s Wagah Border Terminal (WBT) has been in operational since 2008, but is still incomplete and the work is in progress. The progress on Pakistan side is on a slow pace due to non-seriousness of NLC authorities.”
Summary shows FBR is of the view that Integrated Check Post (ICP) on Indian side can be completed in the next three to four months with necessary facilities for trade and passengers. The major hurdle in achieving the goal of dedicated cargo gate within given timeline is slow progress on the tracks connecting the two terminals and new gates on both sides. Whereas, on Pakistan side, other infrastructural requirements, like sheds for storage of goods, parking area for trucks, building structures for custom operations and allied agencies at the terminal are yet to be setup. All these facilities may take four to five months. All requirements have already been communicated to NLC authorities by the Model Customs Collectorate (MCC), Lahore. FBR underlines that Pakistan Customs has already improved its processing at Wagah and the clearance time has been minimised. Efforts are underway to further reduce this time. Perishable commodities are already being cleared on priority basis. No consignment takes more than two days to be cleared from the terminal, and usually the delay is due to incomplete documents by the importers.
Scanning facility is already available on Pakistan side. There are two types of facilities available — mobile scanner as well as static vehicle scanner. However, this facility is yet to be installed on Indian side. At present there is no properly planned demarcation of the trade areas at Wagah Border Terminal by NLC, which is leading to a jumbled state – mixing imports, exports and transit consignments – as well as drivers of both sides, which are threats to the security of merchandise as well as facilities. This unorganised state of operations at the terminal is becoming an impediment in cargo movement.
FBR has pointed out that currently; Pakistan Customs is clearing approximately 150 trucks per day of Indian imports and sending 60 trucks per day of Pakistan’s exports. Whereas, potential both ways in much higher in number. The current frequency of trucks is due to the time limitation (7 am to 2 pm) at the current gate, space limitation on Indian side and inefficient cargo handling by NLC on Pakistan side. In the summary FBR further highlights that currently there is no laboratory working at Wagah. Customs lab at Mughalpura Dryport, Lahore, is being used. Quarantine services are also not available all the time. NLC is yet to provide space for facilities, like laboratory and quarantine procedures.
At present there is no mechanism of data sharing between the two countries at Wagah-Attari border, but the same can be easily made operational once the dedicated cargo gate is in place. It has already been proposed that to conduct joint examination there should be some sort of Electronic Data Interface (EDI) on both sides, but the same can only be installed once scanners are installed on Indian side.
