FAISALABAD, Aug 10: Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Committee (FIEDMC) Chairman Mian Muhammad Latif has said that the government should immediately start construction of Motorway-4 and M-5 to link the NWFP and Punjab with Sindh to facilitate export cargo.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, Mr Latif said all efforts for boosting production would prove futile unless expeditious transportation of export goods from this industrial city was not arranged on priority basis.

He hoped that the $17 billion export target would easily be achieved as the government had given a number of incentives to exporters, especially zero-rated tax facility for the textile sector.

He said the exemption of garments and textile industry from sales tax would help a lot in boosting industrial production and considerably enhancing exports.

Commending the establishment of Value Addition City (VAC) and Faisalabad Industrial City by the Punjab government, he said the VAC on 215 acres on Sahianwala Road would be a cluster of industries where plots of two, one and half acres had been sold to more than 43 investors who would complete infrastructure of their industrial units within the next two years.

TRIBUTE: Different trade and export organizations have paid tributes to commerce secretary Tasneem M. Noorani on his retirement.

Pakistan Textile Exporters Association Chairman Mian Faiq Jawed, Garments City Faisalabad chief Sh.Mukhtar Ahmad and others said that after having gained first-hand experience of civic development and external trade during his tenure as commercial consul in Singapore, Mr. Noorani’s posting as the Faisalabad commissioner provided him an opportunity to show his capabilities and resourcefulness as civil administrator.