20000412

WB initiate in

transport sector

ignored

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR), which issues licence for transportation of Customs bonded goods, has shown a lukewarm response to the World Bank's development Initiative in transport sector of Pakistan.

It has ignored to a request made by the Transport Policy Group (TPG) to nominate a senior official of the CBR to participate in the deliberation, sources close to the group alleged.

The central objective of the World Bank initiative in transport sector, which was launched at the workshop of public sector transport officials in July 1999, is to engage in the widest possible consultations among all stake-holders to collect relevant information from all sources and to evolve an integrated national transport policy document and an implementation strategy.

Khawaja Raffat Zaheer, Chief Coordinator of the Transport Policy Group, told Business Recorder that the government's policies and practices regarding customs tariffs and regulations had a significant impact on the efficiency and cost effectiveness of all modes of transport in Pakistan. Road and railways, ports and shipping and multi-modal transport were a few areas where the impact was even greater, he added.

The transport policy group will have representations apart from the CBR from the Pakistan Railways, National Highway Authority, National Logistic Cell and the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC).