Punjab government is upgrading the road infrastructure of industrial estates of Faisalabad to facilitate rapid movement of export cargo, starting with Khurrianwala industrial belt piece on top priority basis. This was stated by Chairman PTEA Muhammad Yousaf and Vice Chairman Rehan Naseem Bharara in executive meeting here on Friday.
They participated in a high level meeting with Haroon Khawaja, Chairman Monitoring and Implementation Cell of Chief Minister Punjab at Lahore. The meeting was also attended by representatives of all concerned departments. Directives were issued for immediate construction of industrial belt road of international standard as container cargo loads of export consignment were being dispatched to Karachi ports for shipment to foreign destinations. The PTEA members and exporters have appreciated the prompt action of the govt.
They pointed out that stamp duty is a provincial subject and it is being charged on export documents in Punjab. However, Khawaja said that stamp duty was imposed under Finance Act enforced about three decades ago. It has now become outdated and government intends to amend it and give relief to the exporters. He assured office bearers of PTEA that necessary steps would be taken to amend Finance Act and withdraw stamp duty on export documents.
He said that only value added tax (VAT) and income tax (IT) should be levied on industries and only IT should be charged against exports. He also assured to improve the road infrastructure for export oriented industries and said that roads linking industrial units would be upgraded on top priority basis. He also asked PTEA to provide list of roads used for the movement of export containers in Faisalabad.