ISLAMABAD: While proposing to allow the commercial import of cars in the budget 2020-21, the used car importers are seeking clearance of more than 7,000 cars held up at Karachi port imported in violation of procedures.

All Pakistan Motor Dealers Association (APMDA) Chairman H.M Shahzad told Dawn that the government should consider the clearance of these cars “to support overseas Pakistanis.”

In a budget proposal for the year 2020-21, APMDA has proposed that the government should allow the import of used cars in the 660cc category, which are low in cost and high in fuel efficiency.

This car will mostly be in use of the middle class since hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis in the country and abroad have lost their means of livelihood, it further said.

In a letter written to Finance Adviser Dr Hafeez Shaikh, the association has demanded that the enforcement of SRO 52 must be stopped immediately and restored the previous procedure for the clearance of imported cars under the gift scheme.

Through another letter sent to Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar, the association requested to allow local dealers for commercial imports of used cars on the pattern allowed to local assemblers. “Our demands are not for framing new policy but to make changes in the existing one,” Shahzad said.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2020