PESHAWAR: Pakistan Railways is likely to hand over Azakhel Dry Port in Nowshera to the customs department by December 2017.

However, business community is unsure about opening of the dry port by that time.

Sharing information with officials of customs department at the dry port on Tuesday, Ms Haniza, an official of Pakistan Railways, said work on the phase-I of the plan was underway where sheds, offices, suits and link roads had already been completed.

A huge fund of Rs140 million, she said had already been allocated and of it some Rs100 million had been spent on the development works.

The customs officials` team was headed by Customs Collector Qurban Ali Khan.

Talking about the significance of the dry port, the collector customs said it had a vast area where hundreds of containers could be accommodated at the same time. He said the dry port was away from main city population which could be kept operational round the clock.

The customs collector said the Azakhel and Peshawar dry ports would remain functional to facilitate the people. He directed the officials concerned to set up weighbridge on the dry port.