Well-informed sources told Business Recorder wide differences were witnessed amongst the stakeholders on the "illegal" import of used cars under the guise of three schemes of Commerce Ministry meant for overseas Pakistanis. The team of Ministry of Industries and Production headed by Iftikhar Ali Shallwani argued that unrestrained import of used cars would hurt investment in local industry as well as discourage new investors who are making a huge investment in the light of Automotive Development Policy. The international players who have started investing in Pakistan will back out from their commitments.
However, other stakeholders argued that local companies are not meeting the demand due to which customers are facing issues and the gap between demand and supply is being met through import of three year used cars.
The representative of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) argued that the government is earning massive revenue on import of used cars. He also complained that local industry is not meeting demand. Other stakeholders recommended that Ministry of Industries and Production urge local industry to bridge supply-demand gap. The issue of increase in prices by the local car assemblers also came under criticism.
However, the meeting could not evolve consensus on future line of action and decided that each stakeholder should send his recommendations in writing to make it part of the summary to be submitted to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet.
When contacted, former Chairman PAAMA Amir Allawala said the recent decision by the government was disappointing, adding that four months ago ECC made a decision which it then reversed. He asked: "How can the local industry and investors trust the government ever?"
Additional Secretary Incharge Ministry of Industries and Production, Mian Asad Haya-ud-Din has convened a meeting of local car assemblers on Thursday (today) to hear the viewpoint of local industry on prolonged delays in delivery of cars, justification of increase in car prices and on-money - a term used to pay additional sum to get immediate delivery of a car.
There are reports that the officials of Ministry of Industries and Production also issue priority letters to car customers for early delivery. Some of the officials of EDB seek similar facility from the local industry.