Pak-China Economic Corridor: business community demands implementation of original plan

The business community on Tuesday categorically rejected the "diversion" of Pak-China Economic Corridor (PCEC), demanding the implementation of the original plan of the corridor.
"The original plan would benefit the terrorism-affected provinces, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan therefore any change in the original plan would be considered as injustice with the people of both provinces," said Muhammad Ishaq, president of KP Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while addressing the meeting of All Pakistan Chambers of Commerce Presidents. During the meeting, All Pakistan Chambers of Commerce Presidents unanimously demanded of the government to replace Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar and appoint an appropriate person as Dar is over occupied in political affairs of the government rather to perform his duty as finance minister.
The meeting was attended by 40 presidents of chamber of commerce across the country. They said that the Finance Minister was not available to address the issues of the business community therefore a suitable person to act as Finance Minister to be appointed on immediate basis who may give maximum attention to financial and tax matters of the country.
On the conclusion of the meeting, the participants of the meeting announced a declaration. For the importance of regional trade, they urged the government to constitute a committee consisting of public and private sectors representatives to chalk out the hurdles in the draft of proposed Afghan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) and implementation of revised APTTA till December 2015.
They added that the Ministry of Commerce should pass on the export targets to the Pakistani Missions working in Central Asian countries and there should be a joint committee comprised of private sector representatives who may set the yearly targets for these missions.
They maintained that the government of Pakistan should allocate resources to construct roads and railway links to Afghanistan and Free Trade Agreement (FTA)/ PTA should be signed with Afghanistan and Central Asian states by December 2015. The Ministry of Commerce may see the feasibility of establishing warehouses and bonded carrier facilities for Central Asian countries, freight subsidy to be given to exporters for cars and dry ports should be constructed at the border areas with Afghanistan, Iran and India by the end of 2016, they added.
About tax reform , the participants of the meeting recommended that the tax policy of Pakistan should be based on equitable, fair and progressive taxation principles with an objective of broadening the direct tax base by developing a mechanism in which tax payers are motivated to pay tax, they are valued and see their role in economic growth and poverty reduction.
Therefore we recommend bringing down the sales tax rate to 5 percent at single stage and broadening the tax base to offset the revenue losses, they added. They said chambers fully support the idea of fairer taxation policy in Pakistan. We believe that it will be a powerful mechanism to eliminate poverty, hence recommend reducing undue burden of indirect taxation on low/middle income groups and using the additional revenues generated through direct progressive taxation on essential public services such as universal education and health. They urged that Sales Tax/Income Tax registered firms as withholding agents should be abolished and SRO 608 and SRO 165 should be withdrawn immediately.
They asked the government to initiate a solar bank to finance solar products and law should be immediately amended and whosoever is producing excessive electricity should be permitted to sell that electricity to neighbourhood consumers. A ministry for alternate energy should be established, the government should immediately incentivize alternative energy production, gas pipeline project with Iran is an immediate requirement and should be completed without further delay, they maintained.
They urged the government to appoint efficient management in sate-owned enterprises immediately from the private sector and privatisation process should be expedited; balance sheet (Financial Statements) of the state-owned enterprises should be made public. The declarations were announced by RCCI President Syed Asad Mashhadi.