LAHORE: As Pakistan Automotive Development Policy (ADP) 2016-2021 is going to expire next year and the new one is in its final stage, there should be an effective mechanism to regulate the automotive sector in view of the quality as well as the prices in consultation with all stakeholders including the industry as well as the consumers.
The local manufactures revise their car prices whenever they desire and that too without getting due approval from any authority, which affect the common people badly. The prices of all types of cars have skyrocketed along with illegal cost of premium and there is no authority to check this unlawful act of the auto dealers and car assemblers in the country, said Pakistan Industrial and Traders Association Front (PIAF) Chairman Mian Nauman Kabir on Friday. The Engineering Development Board (EDB), which is the apex government body under the Ministry of Industries & Production, entrusted to strengthen and regulate engineering base in Pakistan, will have to devise some rules and regulations to benefit the consumers along with securing the interest of the auto assemblers in the upcoming auto policy, he said.
He also suggested that the Senate Standing Committee on Industries and Production to take the notice of exorbitant and ever-soaring prices of cars in Pakistan along with illegal practice of charging 'on money' or premium, he added.
The Senate Standing Committee on Industries and Production, the Engineering Development Board, FBR, Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association and major Consumers Welfare Associations should sit together and finalize some mechanism to bring down the prices of automobiles in line with the rates of international market by revising profit margins and decreasing taxes and duties in the larger interest of the public.
Kabir said the local currency has now stabilized and gained some value for the last few months but of no effect on the car prices. The automakers are still busy revising the car prices almost every month for no apparently justified reason. Moreover, there are no quality standards set by any government regulatory body in the country for producing cars.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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