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LAHORE, April 13: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Anjum Nisar says the government has put the interest of the entire engineering industry at stake by protecting the 'inefficiency' of the Pakistan Steel.
Speaking at the concluding session of the two-day Engineering Industry Conference here on Tuesday, he said the engineering industry could not sell its products at compatible prices in the international market after paying 125 per cent customs duty on the import of raw material.
The duty, he said, should be reduced to 100 per cent so that the industry could market its products at competitive prices.
Engineering Components and Machinery Manufacturers Asso-ciation chairman Rehmatullah Javed said no industry could progress without the establishment of the engineering industry on sound footings as it was the mother of all industries. He stressed the need for the development of infrastructure in the industrial estates and reduction of power tariff for cutting the production cost.
Punjab Housing and Urban Development Minister Syed Raza Ali Gilani said there was a backlog of 157,000 housing units at present which was increasing by 37,000 units per annum.
He said the provincial government had already launched a scheme for the provision of houses to all its employees on retirement. He said the government had also decided to promote the modern construction technology in the province.
It would encourage construction of pre-fabricated houses besides the use of hollow concrete blocks and insulation which reduced the airconditioning bill by 20 per cent.
Conference's organizing committee chairman Engineer Mian Fazal Ahmed said the engineering industry had unlimited scope for value addition and employment generation because its exports stood at a negligible $60 million per annum at present.
PSM: The Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front has urged the Pakistan Steel Mills to revise the prices of its products in view of the reduction of steel prices in the world market.
In a statement, the front said the engineering and allied vending auto industry was playing a major role in reviving national industry by reducing the import bill and increasing job opportunities in Pakistan.
But, the increase in the steel prices in the world market and the defective policies of the steel mills not only stopped its growth but also caused unemployment in view of the closure of hundreds of units.
It said the steel mills must transfer the benefit of the decrease in the steel prices in the world market to the local engineering and auto industry so that it could come out of the present crisis and survive.
It said the government was getting additional revenue under the head of sales tax because of the doubling of the rate of billet. It was, therefore, necessary to reduce the rate of the sales tax to half and abolish the 3.5 per cent income tax to help the industry meet the present crises.
