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113 containers of used auto parts, wooden pellets cleared

LAHORE: The Collectorate of Customs, Lahore, after levy of 125 percent fine and 60 percent duties, has cleared all the imported 113 containers of used auto parts and wooden pellets in city and collected revenue of over Rs. 100 million.

Customs Collector Aftab Anwar Baloch, told APP here on Friday that nearly 250 containers were stuck up in the Punjab as a banned item. He said that the present government, on the repeated requests of the used auto parts association and on humanitarian grounds, as a special case accorded permission for the release of these containers.

He said as per directions of the Central Board of Revenue, 125 percent fine, 35 percent customs duty , 15 percent sales tax and five percent income tax was levied.

He said 89 containers and 24 wooden pellets were cleared strictly in accordance with the laid down policy and after thorough examination and inspection. He said he himself was personally monitoring the performance of all the officials and pay surprise visit at different units to check the levy of customs and other duties on imported consignments.

Justifying the import of used auto parts, Mohammad Sardar, Patron, Used Autoparts Association, said even rich countries import used auto parts to ensure savings and continued plying of functional automobiles on the road.

He said poor developing country like Pakistan could ill-afford the luxury of discarding old vehicles, while local production of old auto parts was obviously untenable. Currently, genuine auto parts of seven to 10-year-old vehicles were not available in the market while imported used auto parts were easily available at comparatively much cheaper rates.

He said this import cater the needs of 1.5 million old vehicles across the country. He said Pakistani dealers had been importing used auto parts from the countries like Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and England for the last 15 years and paying100 percent fine besides the duty at the time of import.

Haji Mohammad Yasin, general secretary of the association categorically ruled out the possibility of hitting the indigenous auto part industry because not even a single factory in Pakistan was engaged in manufacturing parts of old model vehicles.

He further claimed that the regular import of used auto parts would help check the smuggling of those components into the country.

He demanded the strict checking of rampant smuggling of used auto parts from neighbouring countries. APP