PESHAWAR: Frontier Customs Agents Association (FCAA) President and former Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) senior vice president Ziaul Haq Sarhadi has urged the government to launch Peshawar-Karachi export cargo train to facilitate exports from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, he said that the service of export cargo train from Peshawar Cantonment Dry Port had been closed for last 15 years, while local exporters were transporting their goods to Karachi via private trucks.
He said the launch of cargo train service would enable local exporters to dispatch their goods from Aza Khel Dry Port, noting that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was rich in mineral resources, including gems, marble, furniture, handicrafts, carpets, honey etc.
Similarly, he said that the largest cluster of the safety matches industries was also in KP. “But instead of transportation of these goods to sea port through export cargo train, they are being shifted to Karachi in private trucks”.
He said that lack of activities at KP dry ports had rendered nearly 300 customs clearing agents unemployed while revenue generated from these exports was going in the kitty of the Sindh government.
Sarhadi urged KP Governor Shah Farman, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and Railways Minister Azam Khan Swati and other federal and provincial authorities to launch export cargo train service from Peshawar to facilitate the local exporters.
