PESHAWAR: Members of the business community demanded the government to announce a five-year of tax-holiday for revival of industries and business in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The traders asked the government to take chambers and relevant stakeholders on board for framing sustainable economic and business-friendly policies. The business community said chambers and bureaucracy are part and parcel for each other and called for establishment of close liaison between them that would help to frame jointly viable policies and ensure its smooth enforcement. Similarly, they demanded the uninterrupted power and gas supply to flourish industries and businesses in K-P.
The traders made these demands during an inland tour of the participants of the 39th Mid-Career Management Course, National Institute of Management (NIM) Islamabad here at the chamber house, which was led by NIM Islamabad Directing Staff Semi A. Khan.
President of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Fuad Ishaq, Senior vice president of the chamber Sanaullah Khan, members of the executive committee Imran Khan Mohmand, Minhajuddin, Ismail Safi, Hamza Ibrahim Butt, former senior vice president of the chamber Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, Rashid Iqbal Siddiqui, Ihsanullah, Ishtiaq Muhammad, Saddar Gul and Secretary Sajjad Aziz, traders and industrialists were present in a large number.
Responding to various queries of the senior officers on the occasion, Fuad Ishaq said peace and stability imperative for industrial and business growth in KP and other parts of the country, adding that economic stability would come by only flourishing businesses and industries and jobs would be available to people in the province. The chamber president said there was no scarcity of potential as KP is blessed with abundant natural resources, like mine, mineral, precious stones, agriculture, tourism and other important sectors in which prospects of investment are very high.
Fuad Ishaq told the meeting that SCCI would hold a conference in the first week of May dubbed: Traders and Industrialists – builders of the nation and treasury-full KP province and he highlighted key-objectives of the moot.
The SCCI chief emphasized the need for provision of soft loans to revive small-scale business and industries in the province. He was of the view that industrialization would only come with provision of low-cost industrial lands and availability of sufficient loans that could create ample employment opportunities.
To a question about the CPEC, Ishaq replied that there was lot of expectations that had been attached with this important project that were yet not gained because of which the business community didn’t take full benefit from the CPEC projects, particularly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The chamber president called for bringing down tax-ratio to single digit, equalization tariff of 224 items to duties of Afghanistan, revisiting economic policies, making them business-friendly, and tapping all available natural resources efficiently and steps for promotion investment in the province.
Earlier, officials of the SCCI Research and Development (R&D) Cell briefed the participants through a detailed multimedia presentation about the chamber’ origin, historic backgrounds, objectives, welfare and relief initiatives for the business community and future programs.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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