The Ministry of Industries and Production on Monday indicated that it would recommend modifications in President's Rozgar Scheme after the auto rickshaw industry termed it as flawed.
In a meeting, presided over by Prime Minister's Advisor for Industries and Production Manzoor Wattoo and attended by representatives of manufacturers including Plum Qingqi Motors, Pak Hero Industries, Sazgar Pvt Ltd, Memon Motors, Excel Industries, United Auto Industries, Super Asia Motors, Raja Autocars Ltd, Ahmed Automobile Co, New Asia Automobiles, Omega Industries, and N J Auto Industries, the manufacturers urged the government to recommend to the banks to provide financing at a lower mark-up rate to the poor people who are otherwise unable to purchase an auto rickshaw.
They also proposed removal of loopholes in the President's Rozgar Scheme, lowering of bank guarantees for the manufacturers and provision of auto rickshaws to only driving licence holders. Wattoo assured the manufacturers that the government would encourage the use of the four-stroke CNG rickshaws as these are environment-friendly.
He said that the government plans to phase out two-stroke rickshaws by 2010, and around 500,000 four-stroke auto rickshaws would be needed to fill the resulting gap. He assured the manufacturers of rickshaws that the Industries Ministry would arrange their meeting with the Engineering Development Board (EDB), Ministry of Finance, banks, Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), and the provincial governments.
Comments
Comments are closed.