KARACHI: Vice President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), Nasir Khan has criticized the unusual hike in cement and steel prices and urged the government to safeguard the advantages envisioned in the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s initiative for the construction sector. He expressed his concern over the sharp rise in cement and steel prices which is causing damage to the incentives offered by Prime Minister Imran Khan under a fixed tax regime for the construction industry.

He said cement and steel are the main raw material for the construction industry and pointed out that price of cement bag has gone up to Rs 500 to Rs 700 per bag and steel prices have also jumped up to Rs 145,000 per ton.

Nasir Khan said unusual hike in prices of cement and steel is totally unjustified as most of the raw materials are locally available. He proposed to waive Customs duties on the import of cement and steel at least for three months.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021