The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called upon the government to address the concerns of business community on the implementation of new axle load regime under National Highway Safety Ordinance 2000 as its sudden implementation has significantly enhanced the transportation cost for businesses and created problems in timely delivery of goods in markets and industrial areas.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal President, Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that the implementation of new axle load regime has reportedly reduced cargo weights on trucks from 30 tons to 24 tons that has pushed up the transportation cost of goods as the business community has to hire more vehicles for transporting material and goods due to placement of new restrictions on tonnage.
They said that businessmen of Islamabad and northern region were mostly transporting goods from Karachi Port through containers and trucks, but the introduction of new axle load regime has created new problems for them as they have to pay more for transporting same volume of goods. They said the initiative has also created shortage of transport and caused congestion at ports and in cities as the same volume of cargo/goods now needed more number of heavy duty vehicles. They said that Pakistan Railways was not able to handle the extra volume of cargo due to which freight rates of trucks and containers have increased manifold.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that hefty fall in value of rupee against dollar and hike in diesel prices have already enhanced the transportation cost of goods while the implementation of new axle load regime would further increase the cost of doing business. He said the new initiative has also increased transportation cost of construction material including concrete, sand, bricks and cement and cautioned that if the new regime was not reviewed, it would badly affect the construction of residential and commercial buildings leading to further slump in construction industry.
ICCI President said that escalation in transport cost due to new axle load regime would also affect exports and give rise to higher inflation. He said the additional diesel consumption will increase fuel imports leading to further hike in import bill and trade deficit of the country. He urged that government should take the business community on board on this important issue and address their concerns on new axle load regime in order to save the businesses from further losses.