KARACHI: Customs authorities have advised the ministry of commerce to impose age restriction on import of specialized vehicles after gross misuse has been witnessed in import of sprinkler lorries and its conversion to cargo dump truck.
Earlier, customnews.pk had reported that about Rs43 billion loss incurred to national exchequer in the misuse of facility allowed by the government on import of sprinkle lorry and other vehicles.
Pakistan customs requested the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to approach the ministry of commerce to amend Import Policy Order by adding a fourth condition for fixing the maximum age ceiling on the imported sprinkler lorries / trucks to only seven years models. At present, the bulk import is of model prior to 1999.
“The imposition of age limit will practically finish the phenomenon as only handful of such units may be imported, being substantially costlier,†said a note sent to FBR.
Pakistan Auto Manufacturers Association (PAMA) is also demanding this course of action.
Sources said that huge quantity of sprinkler lorries had also been imported and the same had been converted to dump trucks. The cost of imported lorries is much lower than local made dump truck.
The customs authorities further advised the FBR that for the purpose of including the age restriction in the upcoming Import Policy Order, the ministry may maintain uniform policy regarding age restriction on all specialized vehicles, including dump trucks, sprinkler lorries, transit mixers etc. “In the past, it has been seen that whenever there is tightening of policy with respect to any one of the category of specialized vehicles, the importers shift to importing the other where no/less such restrictions are available,†the authorities said.
Customs seeks age restriction on import of specialized vehicles to end misuse of imported sprinkler lorries
