Azakhel dry port to handle concessional imports

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has made it mandatory for industrial units in the former tribal areas to clear their concessional imports through the Azakhel Dry Port to ensure safe and tracked movement of goods.

The Azakhel Dry Port is located in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's (K-P) Nowshera district. Spread over 28 acres and located about 20 kilometres east from Peshawar on main GT Road, the dry port was inaugurated during the PTI's rule in January 2020.

Former tribal areas include the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata) which were merged with the K-P in 2018.

The FBR has introduced a new mechanism for the safe and traceable movement of concessional imports for these units, restoring the regulatory framework. For this purpose, the FBR has issued Customs General Order (CGO) No 08.

Under Entry 89 of the Eighth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act 1990, a new Customs General Order 08/2025 has been issued to ensure the secure transport of plant, machinery, equipment, and industrial inputs benefiting from concessional sales tax rates for industrial units located in the former Fata and Pata.

This order continues the mechanism earlier notified through Customs General Order 01/2021. Initially, through SROs 1212 and 1213 in 2018, the federal government extended sales tax and income tax concessions to industrial units in the former Fata and Pata.

These concessions were later incorporated into the Sixth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act (Entry 151) and Section 159 of the Income Tax Ordinance via the Finance Act 2019.