Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (Paapam) and domestic tractor industry have rejected the government's proposal for import of second hand tractors, Chairman Paapam Engineer Mumshad Ali told Business Recorder here on Friday. He said the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research held a meeting on Friday to deliberate upon checking the quality and standard of the locally made tractors.
The meeting was attended among other stakeholders by the representatives of Engineering Development Board, Tractor Industry and Paapam. However, it was revealed in the meeting that there was not a single governmental engineering / mechanical body to supervise and inspect the quality and standards as claimed by the manufacturers.
Mumshad said representatives of tractor manufacturers and Paapam assured the Standing Committee that they were producing and exporting tractors of the international standard. "The quality and standard of locally made tractors and implements / parts and accessories is not less than other tractor," he added. However, he said the Paapam and tractor industry would also keep in view standard and business practices of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for the locally manufactured tractors in Pakistan.
Mumshad said it was very surprising and shocking for the tractor manufactures and Paapam that out of the blue Federal Secretary for National Food Security and Research made the proposal for import of second hand tractors "whereas our domestic industry was under-performing and manufacturing high quality cheap quarters." He said hundreds of vending units across the country were providing employment to skilled and unskilled hundreds of thousands technicians and workers. While formulating the industrial policy, the government should keep in mind job opportunities for the domestic workforce.
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