Federal govt urged to resolve KP business community problems

PESHAWAR: The Frontier Customs Agents Group, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, President, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, has urged the federal government

to take serious steps for solving the problems of the business community of the province.

The businessmen representative, who is also chairman of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Pakistan Railways and Dry Port Standing Committees, said Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid visited the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) recently but his response to the issues faced by the KP business community was disappointing.

“The agenda was put before him. The problems of exporters, importers, customs clearing and forwarding agents were conveyed to the minister.

Other issues such as the launch of the export cargo train, setting up of a dry port at Azakhel equipped with modern facilities and availability of the missing facilities at the present dry port in Peshawar were discussed with the federal minister,” recalled Sarhadi.

The business community leader, who is central vice-president of the Pakistan Customs Agents Association, said the federal railways minister tried to skip all the responsibilities and instead suggested that the private sector should come forward to run the dry port and the export cargo train. “If the private sector were to do all this, what is the use of the Pakistan Railways?” he asked.

Sarhadi said export cargo train launching from Peshawar to Karachi, the operationalisation of the Azakhel Dry port, and shifting of the Goods In Transit to Afghanistan (GITA) to Azakhel DryPort were pressing issues.

“The business community representative took up these issues with the federal minister for railways and raised questions. But the minister instead wanted the private sector to run the dry port and the cargo train which is deplorable,” he added.

Sarhadi said the business community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially exporters, were already facing a host of problems and had been affected by terrorism and extremism, he argued.

“It is strange that the Pakistan Railways instead of providing facilities to the businessmen is burdening us,” he lamented.

He said the Frontier Customs Agent Group Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been calling for a well-equipped dry-port in Peshawar, the launch of the Peshawar to Karachi export cargo train and facilities for the exporters but the Pakistan Railways is looking the other way.

Sarhadi recollected that a dry port was set up in the godown of the Pakistan Railways in Peshawar in 1986 on a temporary basis. He said the then railways minister Nisar Muhammad Khan had promised that dry port with all facilities would be set up soon in Peshawar like other parts of the country.

“It is lamentable that even after 32 years the Peshawar Dry Port is being run on a temporary basis,” he deplored and asked the federal government to a serious thought to this and all other issues the business community was faced with.