KARACHI, Feb 28: Exporters of cement have urged the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to resolve logistics problems hurting shipments to India by land.

The recent decision by the Pakistan Railways to increase cargo service to three trains daily is believed to be of no consequence as the track between the Lahore Cargo Shed and the mainline is not rail-worthy.

As a result the cement exporters have stopped booking further orders from India after entering into export contracts up to 150,000 tons during the last couple of weeks, a leading cement exporter told Dawn.The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s former president and a cement exporter Amjad Rafi said: “Last year, when we began cement exports to India numerous problems were faced but the TDAP took no interest in resolving them”.

The TDAP claims to encourage and support with subsidy exports of goods to non-traditional markets but it failed to prove its loud claims with regard to cement export to India.

Mr Rafi thought that if the TDAP provided financial assistance for repairing a small portion of rail track in Lahore it would not only of great help to the exporters but would also earn more foreign exchange for the country.

There is huge demand of cement from India, which runs close to five million tons per annum, he added.

India always enjoyed favourable balance of trade with Pakistan, and it is for the first time after so many years that an opportunity is looking at us for correcting the situation to some extent, he added.

The TDAP is collecting huge funds from exporters under Export Development Fund but its usage is never known to the private sector. Amjad Rafi said if it spent a couple of millions on refurbishing rail tracks, it will directly benefit exports.Last year also exporters faced problems when even ship-loads of cement from Pakistan were not given clearance by the Indian port authorities because they demanded certification from the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS), he said adding such were the non-tariff barriers being used by India to discourage imports from Pakistan.

However, after a hard work of five months by the exporters the hurdle was removed and regular cement exports began from October last. But during this entire period the TDAP remained a silent spectator.

Citing an example, Amjad Rafi said that the TDAP funded construction of the main Korangi Road to facilitate industries in the area engaged in exports. In the same manner it should help the cement exporters, he added.