Chairman Association of builders and developers (ABAD) Mohsin Sheikhani, Vice Chairman Arif Siddik and Chairman South Region Saleem Kassim Patel expressed their disappointment over non-inclusion of ABAD's proposals for Federal Budget 2012-2013. In a joint statement the office bearers of ABAD said it is regrettable that federal government did not utilize the budget proposals of construction sector in the Federal Budget.
ABAD office bearers further said the acute shortage of housing which is touching 8.8 million marks; government has to defuse the situation by increasing the housing finance and liberalisation of taxes. If common man is deprived of affordable housing, it will result in mushroom growth of katchie abadies. They added that a study conducted by utility agencies in Karachi has disclosed that in a population of over 20 million people only 1.2 million connections have been provided. The balance of the population obviously live in slums and have no address and can be instrumental in promoting crimes.
They added that the construction industry is the engine for the growth of national economy and leaving this important engine unattended in the federal budget is very surprising. It is the only industry which can provide a boost to the national economy and cause an increase in GDP growth.
The steel industry is only producing to its 60 percent installed capacity due to increase in energy prices and devaluation of the rupee, to further aggravate the situation additional GST and increased rate of energy have been imposed. The Government can help it to gain 100 percent productivity by giving relevant concessions. The increase in steel price will result in enhanced cost of construction.
The budget has reduced the FED on cement by Rs 100 per ton but taking example of similar reduction of Rs 200 in the last budget, the price of cement will not be effected as the cement manufacturers manipulate the prices of per bag of cement to there own advantage. The decrease of mere Rs 5 per bag would not make any impact. Last week an increase of Rs 10 per bag and during the last four months have increased the price of per bag cement by Rs 40 to Rs 50,despite the fact the raw materials used by them are indigenous and no increase in cost of these materials as well as the energy sources used by the manufacturers.
The office bearers of ABAD further said the Government can still grab the opportunity by giving concessions to the construction sector. Enhanced construction activities are always a big help in decreasing the budget deficit. Housing finance to GDP ratio in Pakistan is less than 1 percent which is very low as compared to the countries in the region. The high margin of finance is also impeding the growth of construction industry. The purchasing power of the common man should be increased.-PR
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