Doha - Shops and individuals found selling postage stamps and other postal stationery to the general public at a premium will be prosecuted by Qatar's General Postal Corporation (Q-Post), chairman Ali Mohammad Al Ali, warned here yesterday. Companies and residents of the country were also likely to face minor delays in receiving their mail within the next few days, he added.
Ali formally opened the Shara Kahraba (Electricity Street) Post Office, which is Q-Post's 26th branch in the country, at a ceremony held yesterday morning. Speaking to reporters, the chairman said, the location of the Shara Kahraba branch was strategic since the post office lies at the centre of a bustling business district. The area itself bases several large, medium and small businesses and shops who were also major customers for the postal service.
Q-Post plans to offer 1,000 post boxes at this branch to meet the needs of individuals and businesses, in the near future, he added. This branch, in addition to the full range of postal services, will also offer Qatar e-government facilities such as renewal of residence visas, applications and renewal of health cards and others. He warned shops and individuals in Qatar who were selling postage stamps and other postal stationery to the general public at a premium, to desist doing so or face prosecution by Q-Post.
Some supermarkets and other retail outlets as well as individuals buy up postage stamps, aerogrammes and Qatar revenue stamps and sell them at prices higher than their value to customers. Such a trade, he said, was illegal under local laws and members of the public who detect such cases may report them to Q-Post.
The corporation will lodge a complaint with the police to nab violators, he emphasised. However, shops and other retailers interested in selling postage stamp and postal stationery may apply with Q-Post to become authorised dealers. Q-Post, he said, offers a commission to such agents and application procedures were simple.
With Q-Post switching over to the new and state-of-the-art mail processing machines from Siemens in coming days, residents and companies in the country could expect minor delays in receiving their letters and other postal items, Ali said. These delays were only expected to be minor and caused by items that do not conform to the sizes of mail that can be processed automatically.
Meanwhile, as part of the expansion drive, Q-Post will open a new branch in Al Aziziya district of Doha next week, followed by another at Frij Abdul Aziz. A new post office dedicated to Express Mail Service- Mumtaz Post and Qatar Post Premium (QPP) services will be opened near the Teyseer Complex on the Airport Road soon, Ali revealed.
© The Peninsula 2005
