With the new Auto Policy about to be announced by the federal government, local auto assemblers have agreed to share technical standards of cars with the Engineering Development of Board (EDB). This agreement was reached between the three leading passenger car assemblers in a meeting held at PSQCA on June 2, 2015, which was jointly chaired by CEO, EDB Tariq Ejaz and Professor Dr Omm-e-Hani of Karachi University and Chairperson, National Standards Committee (Automobile Division).
"Auto industry at present is operating under its own standards set by their principals and hitherto have not shared it with the concerned government agencies," said an official of EDB. Highlighting the importance of safety and environmental standards from the standpoint of consumer protection, CEO EDB asked the auto industry to come forward and join hands with EDB and PSQCA for the development of industry standards.
Citing high fatality rate in accidents, Tariq Ejaz said it was moral obligation of all stakeholders to work for the welfare and protection of Pakistani consumers. He asked the industry to initiate standards in development process by sharing standards with EDB and PSQCA for evaluation first and then moving on to development of unified industry standards. The representatives of leading OEMs including Indus Motor, Honda Atlas Cars, Pak Suzuki and Ghandhara Nissan termed the initiative a positive step and unanimously agreed to submit the standards to EDB and PSQCA by June 10, 2015.
A technical committee to be headed by representative from Pak Suzuki and comprising members from all OEMs as well as EDB, PSQCA and academia was constituted to immediately start working on standards development and complete the task on priority. Commenting on the development, DG of the Automotive Assemblers Association (PAMA) Waheed Khan said that things have now been put on the right track. Having unified auto industry standards is the goal EDB is now aggressively pursuing in its build-up to becoming a member of the Working Party 29 (WP. 29), a global forum that develops Global Technical Regulations and promotes harmonisation of safety and environmental regulations. This is going to open up Pakistan's auto sector to new investments and shall enable the auto companies to export their products to member countries.
A spokesman for auto industry said that it's not possible for OEMs to share their proprietary technical standards, adding that Japanese industrial standards can form the basis for developing Pakistan's own standards. Insiders claim that some of the car models which are being assembled in Pakistan have already disbanded in Japan. For instance M/s Suzuki Mehran is no more manufactured in Japan. Chairman Privatisation Commission (PC) Muhammad Zubair also indicated to the auto industry that abandoned car models will be banned in new Auto Policy. However, spare parts manufacturers pleaded that they have invested billions of rupees on machinery to manufacture parts of Suzuki Mehran and in case of any wrong decision, they will lose their investment.
Standing Committees of National Assembly and Senate on a number of occasions snubbed Ministry of Industries and Production for not taking action against local assemblers. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had also constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif who lodged a complainant against car assemblers in the ECC.