Daily Times

Parliamentary Secretary (PS), Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), Saleh Muhammad Khan Swati on Tuesday said that the government would try to cooperate with ICCI for the establishment of a new industrial estate in Islamabad region.

Talking to the business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), he said that the establishment of a new industrial estate would boost industrialization and investment, create more jobs, and improve regional exports, said a press release. Saleh Muhammad Khan Swati agreed with the ICCI proposals for tax at a single point and low tax rates that would help in broadening the tax base and improving the tax revenue.

He also briefed the business community about the initiatives of the MoWR for water conservation and making Pakistan a water-efficient nation. Speaking at the occasion, President, ICCI, Muhammad Shakeel Munir highlighted the importance of a new industrial estate in the federal capital and briefed him about the efforts of ICCI to realize this project.

He said that the government should cooperate in the materialization of this important project that would create multiple benefits for the economy. He said that high inflation was putting a great burden on the common man and squeezing the purchasing power of consumers leading to a further slowdown in business activities. He urged that the government should take urgent measures to control inflation.

He said that SBP should also rationalize policy interest rates as the high-interest rate has made credit cost more expensive due to which expanding existing businesses and making a new investment has become more difficult. Senior Vice President, Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh and Vice President ICCI, Muhammad Faheem Khan said that taxes at multiple stages were discouraging business and investment activities and urged that the government should introduce a single tax regime to improve tax revenue and facilitate the growth of business activities.

Ch. Muhammad Ali, Azhar ul Islam, Javed Iqbal, Hafiz Bilal Munir, Omais Khattak, and others also spoke at the occasion and shared useful ideas to address the key issues of the economy.