Sost [PoGB], June 6 : The Sost Dry Port in the Hunza district of Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan (PoGB), a major customs office and a key entry point for Chinese tourists and tourism-related income, lacks basic facilities crucial for incoming tourists, Pamir Times reported.
Sost is a beautiful village as well as an attractive tourist destination in Gojal (Upper Hunza), Hunza District of Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan. It is located at a distance of 184 km from the main Gilgit city on the Karakoram Highway before the China Border at Khunjerab Pass (the highest border crossing in the world).
The place, despite being a major customs office handled by the government and a major source of tourism-related income for POGB, lacks basic facilities that are crucial for the incoming tourists, Pamir Times reported.
Notably, this dry port at Hunza is the first checkpoint for baggage carriers and tourists, but the lack of basic infrastructure and facilities on the premises of the Hunza dry port has been a major concern of inconvenience for the incoming tourists in the country and has been continuing for years now, claimed the Pamir Times, a local news outlet from PoGB.
One of the locals, who depend upon these incoming tourists for their daily wages, stated, " The condition of this office is horrible, and has been the same for as long as I can remember. Several passengers that come by bus to PoGB from China, struggle here from table to table until their initial customs check is completed. Not even the land on which this premises is built is cemented, causing problems for a lot of these tourists."
Another local trader in the Pamir Times report stated, "These premises don't even have basic facilities; there are no washrooms, or drinking water facilities and the attitude of the officers here is the worst. We have registered several complaints and no action has been taken. We had urged the district collector to listen to our complaints. We are still asking the DC to compensate us and make us a shelter so that our traders and the passengers can sit in the shade. The tourists complained that they were treated very badly."
A trader who worked on the dry port for over 35 years said, " We feel shameful in front of the people that come to our country as tourists. The office of Sost Dry Port is the face of the PoGB, which is now facing a crisis as several locals and tourists depend upon this premises. The same trader mentioned that despite the PoGB Collectorate Customs collecting a record revenue of PKR 5.525 billion from Sost last year, the authorities have failed to provide basic facilities for us traders and travellers that come from other countries at the customs and immigration premises.
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