KARACHI: The local car vendor industry has said that more precious foreign exchange will be wasted on import of parts and accessories for over 33,000 used cars (older than five years) that arrived in the last over six months under the guise of facilitating overseas Pakistanis.
Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM) Chairman Syed Nabeel Hashmi claimed that used cars are mostly those vehicles that have been repaired or stolen. The huge arrival of used cars will surely also entail huge expenditure of foreign exchange on spare parts imports.
He said the worst part is that every vehicle imported is also a lost opportunity for our economy to create any employment.
In a statement on Thursday, he called for the immediate rescinding of SRO 577(I) 2005 or update of its US$ based values which are out dated and have created an un realistic window for import of these used vehicles. Giving customs a discretion to further reduce applicable duties by up to 60 per cent have literally made imports of used cars free into Pakistan.
Munir K. Bana, Vice Chairman PAAPAM said instead of giving attention to the core issue of curtailing inflationary trend engulfing resources and endangering national integrity the government is allowing import of each and every thing into Pakistan to jeopardise local industry.
On rising prices of locally assembled cars, he said the best way of reducing car prices is to increase level of localisation.
He emphasised on implementation of Auto Industry Development Programme (AIDP) in letter and spirit to achieve the target.
Meanwhile, Shaikh Muhammad Iqbal, General Manager Sales and Marketing, Balochistan Wheels Limited told Dawn that used vehicles were being imported at the cost of the local automobile industry.
Hundreds of components such as wheel rims, tyres, batteries, radiators, mufflers, wire harness, instrument panel, steering wheels, air conditions, sun visor,
other sheet metal parts and plastic parts etc., which are produced by local vendors, are badly hit by import of used vehicles.
These vendors are providing jobs to almost 200,000 skilled workers who feared losing jobs if imports of used vehicles are continued in high numbers.