ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Industries and Production will likely take draft of the new auto policy to the federal government for approval within two weeks, secretary industries apprised a parliamentary panel Wednesday.

Secretary Industries and Production Jawwad Rafique Malik informed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday that the new policy envisaged additional security features and discouragement of own on auto. He said that in Pakistan there was no laboratory for testing security features introduced by auto companies.

He said for discouragement of own, steps were already taken.

PAC Chairman, Rana Tanveer Hussain, questioned the role of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and the Engineering Development Board to regulate the auto sector by promoting healthy competition.

However, few auto companies were playing a monopolistic role.

A member committee, Munazza Hassan, said the market was dominated by Toyota and Honda.

She said Toyota raised the prices of its products but security features were nil. The company also refused the conversion of its model to Euro-V.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021