KARACHI:
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is expected to quote a price to Kuwait-based logistics company Agility for the purchase of its software, Pakistan Automated Container Clearing System (PaCCS), before the end of the month.
Official sources told The Express Tribune that FBR Chairman Salman Siddique led a delegation of FBR and customs officials in a meeting with Agility officials in Kuwait on March 4. The move came after Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh instructed FBR to resume negotiations with the company responsible for developing and implementing PaCCS.
“During the meeting, FBR initially offered Agility to continue the system on public-private partnership but Agility officials did not show interest in this option,” said a company representative. He said that FBR has been asked to “pay the price and purchase the system to continue using it beyond March 30.”
Agility officials have also refused to withdraw an application for arbitration, filed in a French court earlier this month. Agility had earlier notified FBR that if negotiations for full-scale implementation of the software and payment of dues to the company did not resume by February 28, it would shut down the software and file suit against FBR.
Although the company has delayed its decision to shut down the system until March 30, Agility officials insist the arbitration request will remain registered until and unless the dispute is resolved.
Earlier, speaking to The Express Tribune, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had revealed that FBR and customs officials were instructed to hold talks with developers of the software. The minister explained that various stakeholders had urged the government to fully implement the system, which has been operational at the Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT), Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) and Quaid-e-Azam International Container Terminal (QICT) since May 2007.
PaCCS allows importers, exporters and their agents to circumvent contact with revenue authorities and customs officials by tracking their shipments and filing the necessary documentation online.
FBR and Agility had initially intended to run the software as a public-private partnership, however, company officials assert that payments that were to be made for the implementation and operation of the software were not received from FBR.
“So far, only $70,000 has been paid to Agility,” said an official. He explained that the payment covered only a portion of the implementation cost and added that the company now expects reimbursement for services rendered since implementation.
Despite repeated attempts, FBR officials, including Member Customs Mumtaz Haider Rizvi and Member Facilitation and Taxpayer Education Riffat Shaheen Qazi, remained unavailable for comments.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ