LAHORE, June 24: The Punjab government has decided to advance soft loans of Rs1,200 million for small industries and introduce a self-assessment scheme for social security from the next financial year.
Disclosing this in his budget speech Provincial Finance Minister Tariq Hamid said that the banks would provide the funds for the soft loans to the Punjab Small Industries Corporation on the guarantee of the provincial government.
The PSIC will advance loans in South Punjab at eight per cent markup and Central Punjab at nine per cent markup. The government would provide a subsidy of Rs131.2 million to the corporation for covering the markup difference between two parts of the province.
He said that 16,000 direct and indirect job opportunities were expected to be created during the first phase of the small industries loans scheme. Maximum limit of loans to be provided within six weeks would be Rs3 million. The loans would be advanced for a period of five years.
He said that the PSIC would provide soft loans to artisans at their doorstep. The corporation will be provided Rs10 million for the release of loans upto Rs40,000 each returnable in two years. An artisan would be eligible for a loan of Rs15,000 on personal surety.
He said that the government had also allowed the PSIC to establish export processing zones at Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Lahore and Multan in collaboration with the chambers of commerce and industry. The Sialkot Export Processing Zone had been inaugurated since June 22. Construction of 22 industrial units at the Sialkot Zone would be completed within a year.
He said that the Directorate-General of Mines and Minerals was to be established under the National Minerals Policy. The technical and vocational training facilities under TEVTA would be improved in collaboration with the private sector.
The minister said that the government had decided to introduce a Social Security Self-Assessment Scheme on the pattern of the Employees Old Age Benefits Institution. The entrepreneurs would pay contribution at the rate of Rs210 per worker and PESSI would not inspect their premises or ask questions during the first two years of opting for the scheme.
He said that the inspection of boilers upto 1000 square feet was being entrusted to the private sector boiler engineers. Half the boilers in the province would be out of the purview of the government boiler inspectors as a result.
He said that the inspection of over 150,000 electrical installations was also being entrusted to the expert electrical engineers and supervisors from the private sector. The industrial units would be categorized in accordance with the powerload for inspection by the licenced engineers and supervisors. Over 10,000 engineers and supervisors would get job opportunities as a result of privatization of the electrical inspections.
He said that the companies and individuals paying the professional tax at present would pay it at the same rate next year. No government official would be authorized to inspect their premises. The tax would, however, be payable in six months i.e. by Dec 31. A 10 per cent surcharge would be payable after Dec 31.
He said that the government functionaries would proceed only against the companies and individuals failing to pay the tax or evading it. He said that the development of an expo centre on 400 kanals of land provided by the Punjab government was a welcome development and would open the doors of industrial development.