The Planning Commission has approached the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for declaring Gwadar City as Economic Free Zone (EFZ) to attract foreign tourists and investors in Balochistan.
Sources told Business Recorder on Sunday that Balochistan Governor has fully supported the proposal of Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) for declaring Gwadar city as EFZ to attract investment in transport, hotel business, tourism, entertainment, power generation, water and other projects.
The Planning Commission has requested the tax authorities to consider the proposal on top priority basis. According to GDA, there is an impression, from the beginning, that the whole of Gwadar City would be declared as free zone. A large number of investors who had expressed willingness to participate in activities like transport, tourism, water and power projects, water desalination, general manufacturing, assembling plants and packing etc were waiting for the announcement of the government''s package.
Recently, the government exempted only 3 port companies from income tax. In the absence of a sustainable city, which may attract tourists as well as investors, traders, cheap labour, technicians etc, desired results may not be achieved.
The GDA, therefore, requested that the Balochistan government should approach Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for incentives to all sectors where people may invest in Gwadar, rather than exempting only three companies from income tax.
The exemption from taxes should be given on machinery imported for industrialisation, construction and raw material imported for processing export goods, it said. However, anything moved outside Gwadar may be subject to all normal taxes, sources added.