KARACHI, Dec 7: Sindh Minister for Transport and Industries Adil Siddiqui has welcomed the federal government’s decision to withdraw the general sales tax in the transport sector and hoped it will help provide better transport facilities to the people.
Mr Siddiqui said here on Thursday that the decision would bring investment in the transport sector and new vehicles could be imported. This would herald a new era of progress in the field of transport and the transporters would overcome their losses.
He thanked Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz saying the transport sector in Sindh and especially in Karachi had been on the decline for the past many years and now the chances of development in it were imminent and it would attract importers to invest in commercial vehicles.
He was of the view that there was enough room of investment in the transport sector in the industrial city. He urged those companies which had a vast experience in the transport sector to come forward and present their valuable proposals so that the government would seriously consider those suggestions. He assured the companies that the government would welcome every practicable proposal to be submitted by transport companies.
He observed that the need for bringing drastic changes into the transport infrastructure had been being felt for the past many years and the government’s decision to withdraw the GST would encourage transporters to extend cooperation to the provincial and city governments in bringing about a positive change in transport culture. Besides, it would encourage transporters to curtail fares and tariffs for transporting goods, he added.
Mr Siddiqui recalled his decision about imposing a ban on all smoke-emitting buses and minibuses inducted before 1975. “All these vehicles will be phased out and replaced with new CNG-fitted buses. Transporters should take advantage of the public-private partnership plan to bring a favourable change in the city’s transport culture.”
He said that five per cent waiver on the import of machinery for the hotel industry would also encourage investment in that sector.
