LAHORE: The newly elected president of Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), Almas Hyder, on Saturday vowed to focus on economic challenges of the country.
Speaking at the LCCI Annual General Meeting here, he called for good and friendly mechanism to ensure much-needed expansion in tax net, citing that it would encourage people to come into the tax net voluntarily.
Newly elected Senior Vice President Khawaja Shahzad Nasir, Vice President Fahim-ur-Rehman Saigol, outgoing President Malik Tahir Javaid, SVP Khawaja Khawar Rasheed, VP Zeshan Khalil and Election Commissioner Sohail Lashari also spoke on the occasion.
Almas Hyder said that a friendly mechanism had to be developed to encourage the people to come into the tax net voluntarily. He suggested that a scheme should be introduced for the business community that those people would be exempted from audit that had paid 20 percent extra tax than the previous year. It would not only bring huge number of people into the tax regime but would also enable government to meet its revenue targets.
LCCI newly elected president urged the Chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the date for the filing of income tax returns till October 30 as business community could not file their returns due to elections of trade bodies, problems in online system and various other reasons. He said that an extension in the date of filing of returns would not only facilitate the business community but also strengthen public-private partnership.
Almas Hyder mentioned that no land was available in Lahore for industrialization. Two years ago, he mentioned, LCCI had identified 66,000 acres of land in south and north for establishment of new industries, however, notification had yet to be issued in this regard while file was lying in the office of Punjab Chief Minister. Notification should be issued immediately, he urged.
He said that population of Lahore was over 10 million but infrastructure was not up to the mark, adding that airport in Lahore was smaller than the airports in rural areas of China. Likewise Lahore Railway station was still there where it was in 1947. He urged the government to plan for immediate expansion in Lahore Airport and Lahore Railway station as these were the most important sources of communication and cargo handling.
He also called for establishment of more hotels of international standards to boost the hospitality industry.
Almas Hyder also called for improvement in ease of doing business, saying that international ranking of Pakistan in ease of doing business index was at 147 that should be a matter of concern. He said that cost of doing business was one of the major hurdles in the growth of all sectors of economy whether it was manufacturing or agriculture. He said that LCCI had already done a lot and prepared doable suggestions for ease of doing business.
He said that Pakistan, like other developing countries of the region, was facing a daunting task to meet its growing energy demand that was likely to double in the next few years. They said that government had to explore and exploit its all resources to match growing energy demand of domestic, manufacturing and agriculture sectors.
Almas Hyder also talked highly about depleting water resources, gap between imports and exports, smuggling and pledged to work as a think-tank for the policy corridors. Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said, would explore new markets for Pakistani merchandise to enhance national exports.
He said that LCCI this year would prepare strong budget proposals in consultation with economic experts and business community leaders with an objective to ensure maximum allocations for various sectors of the economy. The LCCI new chief said that Research and Development was an area where proper attention could do miracles. He said that LCCI would work for the promotion of research culture in Pakistan.
Newly elected Senior Vice President Khawaja Shahzad Nasir and Vice President Fahim-ur-Rehman Saigol said that top notch of the country, ministries and bureaucracy would be approached for early solution of the issues being faced by the business community, besides making the LCCI role more effective and meaningful. They said that youth population was a precious asset of the country and they would be encouraged to step into entrepreneurship.
They added that Lahore Chamber would also raise its voice for construction of parking plazas in the city as almost all the city traffic related problems were because of non-availability of proper parking space.
Earlier, the LCCI outgoing President Malik Tahir Javaid, SVP Khawaja Khawar Rasheed and VP Zeshan Khalil presented the one year performance and Election Commission announced the formal results.
Former LCCI Presidents Iftikhar Ali Malik, Mian Shafqat Ali, Sheikh Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Ali Mian and Executive Committee Members were also present.
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