The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, which is scheduled to meet on Friday with caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro in the chair, is likely to approve a package of incentives for Export Processing Zone (EPZ) top of which would be grant of 20 years tax holiday, official sources told Business Recorder.
In September last, the ECC under the chairmanship of former prime minister Shaukat Aziz did not approve a similar proposal rather directed the sponsoring ministry ie Industries Ministry to redraft special incentives for the investors interested in setting up industrial units at EPZ of Gwadar.
The sources said, Industries Ministry has now proposed to the ECC that 20-year income tax exemption may be granted as was given to the Gwadar Port developers despite disagreement by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) which supports grant of such incentive for not more than five years.
The sources said 1,000 acres of land has already been leased out free of cost, adding that incentives package had been drafted in consultation with concerned stakeholders and admitted that incentives offered by successful EPZs in India, Bangladesh, China, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) were more attractive and result-oriented as compared to the regime of incentives operative in Pakistan EPZs.
It had proposed that 1,000 acres of land provided by the Balochistan government free of cost should be declared as EPZ. Sources said that ECC had observed that the proposal submitted by the Ministry did not contain a comparative study of incentives presently available in the existing EPZs in different parts of the country vis-à-vis those being offered in the Gwadar special economic zone.
The ECC would also discuss prices of essential items and availability of wheat and flour to the people especially at affordable rates. Besides, Pakistan Sugar Mills Association''''s (PSMA) demands would also come under discussion as the secretaries committee headed by the Minister for Finance Dr Salman Shah did not discuss the issue due to one or the other reasons. The sources said, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) would brief the ECC about wheat situation and expected price of new crop.