Unisame concerned over downsizing of Smeda

The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has again expressed its concern over the downsizing of Smeda.
In an open letter to the Minister for Production and Industries Liaquat Ali Jatoi, the union inquired the wisdom behind the restructuring of Smeda on the ground that on one hand the State Bank of Pakistan had widened the sector and on the other the government was downsizing the authority.
The union contended that how would Smeda cope up with the extended sector which needed to be strengthened rather than curtailed.
The union requested to broaden the activities of Smeda, establish its branches all over the country and its publicity as many SMEs had not yet known about the existence of Smeda and to register SMEs all over Pakistan to have the correct figures and assessment required.
"We requested Smeda to give more attention to the engineering sector and to encourage manufacture of machinery in Pakistan. Our engineers can make better machinery at half the cost of imported machinery as there is vast talent and the same should be exploited," the letter said.
The union pointed out drawbacks of the market committee system prevalent in markets and also said that there were 46 different types of taxes paid by an SME, apart from 32 agencies pestering the SMEs.
The SMEs needed to be relieved of this burden and one-window operation was required both for facilitating and collecting taxes at one point, the union suggested.
The letter also expressed grievances about high-handedness, corruption and narrated facts about various cases pending and complaint lodged. It requested improvement in the working of the administration and pointed out that there were various items which could be manufactured in Pakistan but were imported from abroad.
It recommended that PCSIR was in a position to offer guidance in this field and Smeda should seek their help. it alleged that there was no coordination between Smeda, PCSIR, SME Bank, SME Leasing and other institutions.
The union complained about electricity, water, gas, telephone services and delayed connection and unsatisfactory power distribution and loss caused to machinery.
It also complained about depleted road network leading to industrial areas and time loss involved in reaching the factory due to broken damaged roads.
"It is very important that industrial zones are established with proper infrastructure having ready built sheds and full facilities of utility and prefabricated systems for quick construction," it emphasised.
It further highlighted the shortcomings of finance and requested Smeda to inform the SBP that banks were not following the prudential regulations of the SBP and still demanding collateral from SMEs.
The union also stated that the mark-up was unaffordable and it should not exceed 6 percent per annum. It lamented that the taxes were high, and termed Rs 80,000 bracket as unfair.
The union also described sales tax procedure as ambiguous, which should be streamlined.
The union recalled that the CEO, Smeda had promised to take up the issue and try his utmost to get relief from the concerned quarters and requested the authority to work in close connection with it and assure full support for its SME programmes.