Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has promised to resolve the issues being faced by the business community. "All sector-specific efforts are being made to turn the country into an economic giant," he said while addressing a delegation of Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) led by its President Abdul Basit.
According to LCCI spokesman, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that he would approach the federal ministries and their officials for resolution of the business community's problems. Speaker assured full support to resolve the businessmen problems and said that he is ready to personally represent and raise the problems of trade and industry at all available forums including standing committees of the National Assembly.
LCCI president said that industrial policy should be a federal subject therefore it should be uniformed for all the provinces. Currently, all the provinces are formulating their own industrial policy which is creating an undue competition among the provinces, he mentioned.
He said that currently the rate of Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) to industrial sector in Punjab is around Rs 932 per MMBTU compared to the system gas which is being provided to Sindh industry at Rs 600 per MMBTU. The current difference of Rs 330 per MMBTU is already increasing the cost of doing business and non-competitiveness of Punjab based industry in local as well as international markets, he added.
The difference of Rs 330 per MMBTU is expected to increase further as government has announced a price cut of Rs 200 per MMBTU for the system gas which Sindh is getting. To bring Punjab on equal footing with other provinces, the government can at least give subsidy either on RLNG or restore system gas till the severity of winter to reduce gas tariff difference, he asserted.
The industry is burdened by the enforcement of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) through an ordinance. The Supreme Court has already declared enforcement of GIDC as illegal, confirming decisions by honourable High Courts of Peshawar and Sindh. GIDC would make Pakistani merchandise uncompetitive in the global marketplace and hurt the country's exports, he added. LCCI president said that currently there is a ban on new gas connections for industrial use.
"The federal government should direct the SNPGL to lift this ban to incentives the setting up of new industrial units/estates. The government should also direct the SNGPL to divert natural gas from CNG to industry and power sector," he added. He said the increased loadshedding of gas in the winter hampers the performance of industrial sector. The gas supply to industrial sector in Punjab remains low, especially in the period from mid-December to March 2015. Furthermore, due to low gas pressure in winters, the industrial sector is unable to operate in full swing and hence ends up losing export orders. This makes the industrial sector in Punjab uncompetitive as compared to the other provinces where the gas loadshedding doesn't exist; he said and demanded of the government to adopt uniform policy in all the provinces.
He said that the energy mix of the country is very expensive due to lack of hydel power generation. This results in tariff hikes and makes the industry uncompetitive in the international market.
He suggests that the Ministry of Finance should use the international and domestic stock markets for generation of funds for Diamer-Bhasha and Kalabagh Dams. He said that around 40,000 large and small scale industries have already been established in and around Lahore while the industrial estates of city have provision of only 1200 plots for industries located in proper industrial zones; 800 in Sundar Industrial Estate and 400 in Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate.
In accordance with LCCI's suggestions, LDA prepared a draft for amendments in the master plan of Lahore. The proposed expansion in the industrial zoning of Lahore cannot be implemented unless a formal notification of the amendments in the master plan of Lahore is issued by the Chief Minister Punjab.