Daily Times

LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad has urged the Punjab government to invest in local labourers for the Rs 45 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

Talking to a delegation of the representatives of various markets, he said the chamber had raised the issues of smuggling and the Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess (PIDC), which is a double taxation.

This cess will force business community to clear their consignments from other provinces and dispatch them to different parts of the country which would incur huge loss to the provincial economy, he added.

“Government has been urged to tackle the issue of smuggling with iron hands, reduce the discretionary powers of tax machinery and prefer the local manufacturers for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),” Arshad said.

“There should be no duty or tax on import of industrial machinery and a fully empowered National Tax Commission should be established to resolve tax related issues.”

The LCCI president also said the provincial government should not withdraw the statutory regulatory orders (SROs) that are giving benefit to trade, industry and economy.

He said that government is expected to withdraw around Rs 130 billion worth concessionary SROs of customs duty, sales tax, income tax and federal excise duty in federal budget 2016-17. He said that withdrawal of concessionary SROs jack up the cost of doing business in the country.

He said that though the budget document had been finalised for presentation, still there was a lot of room for induction of business community’s proposals as after presentation budget document would be presented in the National Assembly for debate and final approval.