ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has allowed import of bulk shipments of food items through Gwadar port for transit to Afghanistan to help Kabul maintain food supply while coping with the fallout of the Covid-19 outbreak, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce Razzak Dawood said on Tuesday.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, subsequent lockdown and closure of the western border of Pakistan, more than 10,000 Afghan transit trade containers have been either stranded at Karachi ports, en-route to the border stations, or awaiting clearance at the border stations of Chaman and Torkham.

Under special permission, the government has resumed handling of Afghan cargo at Gwadar port under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement-2010 which will help in early clearance and quicker transportation of sugar, wheat, and fertiliser to Afghanistan.

Unlike containers, these cargoes will be transported in sealed trucks to Afghanistan. Moreover, the cargoes coming from the Middle East will have a shorter distance to the Gwadar port.

Under Afghan transit trade, cargo will be sent to Kabul to help it maintain food supply

The adviser said that the commerce ministry had allowed import of 16,000 tonnes of DAP and the World Food Programme cargo of 500,000 tonnes wheat for Afghanistan. These consignments will arrive next month, the adviser said, adding that ships from China would also offload at Gwadar.

“The Ministry of Commerce has operationalised Gwadar Port for Afghan transit trade,” the adviser said, adding that this fulfilled the longstanding request of the business community and the shipping industry. He went on to say that this would also pave the way for generating business opportunities and employment in Gwadar as well as along highways.

The adviser said that the move would jump-start port operations at Gwadar port and create the necessary eco-system for another big seaport of Pakistan.

However, it is not clear whether the government will also allow normal transit at Gwadar port.

A senior customs official told Dawn that he was not aware whether normal cargo would also be allowed at Gwadar. “We have requested the Federal Board of Revenue to establish a transit office at Gwadar port,” he said, adding so far no office was being established at the port.

Transit trade

Official data show that more than 6,000 Afghan transit containers have been piled up at Karachi ports in the wake of the border closure. Similarly, another 2,000 containers have been stranded en-route after the border closure and lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. And another 400 containers have been piled up at Torkham and 1,600 containers at Chaman due to the border closure.

On April 5, the government relaxed the opening of the border with Afghanistan by allowing transit goods for three days in a week. On March 2, the Pak-Afghan border was closed for all types of movement, including cargo movement of exports and transit trade.

Director General Transit Trade Dr Sarfraz Ahmad told Dawn that for speedy clearance of the stuck up transit cargo, officers and staff of the directorate were working round the clock at Karachi/Port Qasim ports terminals on three shifts basis, after the opening of the western border to process/scan 100 per cent consignments for dispatch to Afghanistan.

He said staff had been deployed at the scanning facility of the terminals. An SOP had been issued for speedy clearance to ensure implementation of new scanning arrangement, Dr Sarfraz said.

Similar arrangements have been made at Chaman and Torkham for speedy clearance of cargo and cross-border operations. “The priority is that the containers piled up at border stations should be allowed to cross the border at the earliest to ensure reduction of en-route congestion,” he said.

Food, medicines and other essential commodities are being prioritised for speedy dispatch to Afghanistan. “Close watch is being kept on cross- border statistics to ensure smooth transit traffic flow without en-route stoppage,” the official said.

At the Karachi ports, he said, more than 2,000 containers had already been scanned due to 24-hour working of the transit staff. “Remaining containers will also be expediently scanned in the coming days and delay in clearance is not expected,” he said.

However, implications of the effect of coronavirus remain a paradox for the transit trade processing staff.

An official source at the Torkham border told Dawn that out of 120 drivers, who returned to Pakistan from Afghanistan on April 20, about 50 drivers were suspected to have contracted the virus. They have been quarantined in Landi Kotal. Besides, more than 30 drivers have been tested positive for coronavirus.

The source said that customs transit staff at Torkham feared that they might also be infected as they also processed documents of the drivers coming from the Afghan side in vehicles with empty containers. Transit staff at Chaman is also working in similar circumstances.

Statistics show that the Afghan transit trade flow of cargoes rose by 43.95pc to 93,732 containers in 2018-19 from 60,516 containers in the preceding year. The assessed import value of the transit cargoes also grew a robust 54.88pc to $5.715 billion in 2018-19 from $3.97bn a year earlier.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2020