LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday outlined key priorities for budget 2013-14 calling for an immediate attention of the policymakers towards the challenges being faced by the economy.
LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar urged policymakers to focus on investing in energy solutions and enforcement of law and order while lowering tariffs on smuggling prone items, increase share of direct taxes in revenue and reduce slab of indirect taxes in the forthcoming budget to achieve key economic targets set for the year 2013-14.
In order to tackle energy shortages, he said, maximum funds should be allocated for construction of dams/water reservoirs, tapping of Thar Coal potential, completion of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and establishment of LNG terminals. At least Rs 200 billion or 10% of the total budget should be allocated for hydel power projects, he added.
Farooq Iftikhar said the country's reliance on costly thermal power was jacking up the cost of production and import bill as well, therefore, country needs an urgent shift in its energy-mix in favour of hydle power and local fuels.
He said, use of biogas should be promoted throughout rural sector both for electricity generation and gas for cooking, besides producing bio fertilizer.
The 175 billion tonnes of Thar coal reserves with a price tag of $ 13 trillion in the international market, are enough to provide 100,000 MW of electricity for 100 years, he said and added that uninterrupted and affordable power supplies can turn Pakistan into an economic powerhouse.
He hoped that maximum funds would also be made available for early completion of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and LNG terminals to keep industrial wheel moving.
About law and order, the LCCI president said, it was hurting Pakistan's potential as a highly attractive investment destination, as foreign and local investors were shying from operating in Pakistan, while, a number of industrial units had already shifted their operation to other countries.
Therefore, the sizeable funds must be allocated for improving law and order situation. Rising risk perception about investing into Pakistan was hitting hard Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that needed to be tackled through a comprehensive policy approach by involving Chambers of Commerce in the country.
He said that a number of sectors in Pakistan including infrastructure development, coal, energy, agriculture, livestock, textiles and pharmaceutical offer lucrative investment opportunities to foreign investors, which could be achieved through a proper and well tailored marketing strategy.
The LCCI President also urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to cut the rate of duties on all smuggling-prone items in order to check smuggling of plastic moulding compound, electronics, Chemicals, fabrics and tryres and tubes. He suggested that Sales tax slab should immediately be curtailed in order to reduce inflationary pressures.
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