ICCI – Page 43 – PPI News Agency

Sadiq Sanjrani asks business community to capitalize on investment opportunities in Gwadar

Islamabad, September 09, 2020 (PPI-OT): Sadiq Sanjrani, Senate Chairman said that Gwadar was emerging as a new port city of Pakistan and was destined to become a hub of industrial and investment activities, therefore, business community should gear up itself to fully capitalize on the emerging opportunities of business and investment in Gwadar and Baluchistan. He said this while talking to a delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry that called on him led by President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed. Ms. Sajida Zulfiqar MNA and former Vice President PFCCI was also present at the occasion. Saif ur Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI and Malik Sohail Hussain former Senior Vice President ICCI and Chief Coordinator UBG FPCCI were in the delegation.

Sadiq Sanjrani said that Gwadar offered great prospects for businessmen and investors and they should focus on Gwadar for achieving lucrative returns. He further said that the business community was the backbone of the economy and their problems should be addressed on priority basis to promote ease of doing business in the country. He said the way the local business community has fought back against the impact of Covid-19 was appreciable and it showed their resilience to survive in tough conditions.

MNA Ms. Sajida Zulfiqar expressing her views, briefed the ICCI delegation about the potential investment opportunities in the tourism sector in KPK. She said that KPK has huge potential for tourism, but lack of resources was a constraint in promoting tourism infrastructure. She emphasized that the business community should partner with the government in promoting the tourism industry that would boost local and foreign tourism in the country.

Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the government has offered an attractive package to construction industry due to which the construction activity has picked up momentum. He said that a similar kind of package should be offered to other major industries, especially for investing in industrial zones including Gwadar that would start a new phase of rapid industrialization in Pakistan and put it on the path of fast economic growth.

He suggested that an investment conference on tourism should be organized in KPK to unlock the tourism potential of the province. He said that Pakistan-Turkey FTA was in its final stages and urged that Pakistan should finalize FTA with Turkey as early as possible that would remove trade barriers and give a boost to bilateral trade between the two countries.

Saif ur Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI and Malik Sohail Hussain former Senior Vice President ICCI/Chief Coordinator UBG FPCCI appreciated the government’s initiative for working to automate the legislative process that would address manual hindrances and speed up the legislative process in the country.

For more information, contact:
Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI)
Chamber House, Aiwan-e-Sanat-o-Tijarat Road,
Mauve Area, G-8/1, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-2250526, 2253145, 8432676
Fax: +92-51-2252950
Email: icci@brain.net.pk, info@icci.com.pk
Website: www.icci.com.pk

Belgium interested to make investment in Pakistan: Envoy

Islamabad, September 08, 2020 (PPI-OT): H.E. Philippe Bronchain, Ambassador of Belgium along with his Trade Commissioner Abid Husain visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) and addressing the business community said that his country was interested in making investment in Pakistan as it was a potential country for business and investment activities. He discussed various prospects for further enhancing bilateral trade, investment and JVs between Belgium and Pakistan. He said that he would play a role to build a strong image of Pakistan in his country.

Abid Husain, Trade Commissioner, Embassy of Belgium said that Pakistan was mostly exporting textiles products and some raw materials to Belgium. However, he said that Pakistan needed to invest in technology for producing value added products that would increase its footprint in foreign markets. He said it would also help Pakistan to fully capitalize on the GSP Plus concession of the EU in order to enhance its exports. He said that Pakistani diaspora in Belgium could play a role for upscaling bilateral trade ties between the two countries.

Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Belgium was one of Pakistan’s important trading partners within the European Union, however, the bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Belgium was still below USD 1 billion despite the fact that both countries have the potential to promote trade in many areas. He briefed the Belgium Ambassador about the potential opportunities for JVs and investment in Pakistan. He said that Turkey, Germany, UK and many other countries were taking keen interest in CPEC and stressed that Belgium’s investors should bring technology to set up JVs in Pakistan.

Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that Pakistan and Belgium were doing trade in limited items, which was the main reason of low trade volume and stressed that both countries should focus on diversification of trade to achieve better results. He said that geographical positions of Pakistan and Belgium offered the entrepreneurs of both countries unique opportunities for getting enhanced market access in their respective regions, which could be exploited by developing strong business linkages between private sectors of both countries.

He said that the Embassy of Belgium should share list of its top 10 imports so that Pakistani exporters could make efforts to meet its imports needs. Malik Sohail Hussain, Faad Waheed, M. Aslam Khokhar, Mian Arif Hussain and others also spoke at the occasion and gave suggestions for further improving bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Belgium.

ICCI hails CDA Board for reducing additional storey charges by 50 percent in markets

Islamabad, August 27, 2020 (PPI-OT): The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has lauded the decisions of CDA Board for accepting most of its demands with regard to reducing additional storey charges in markets, simplification of lease renewal procedure and amendment in industrial building bye-laws. It thanked Amir Ali Ahmed Chairman and all members of CDA for taking business friendly decisions that would greatly facilitate in promoting business activities.

Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that a delegation ICCI had recently held a comprehensive meeting with the Chairman CDA and his team in which demands were made for reducing additional storey charges, simplifying lease renewal procedures and allowing multiple trades on industrial plots. He said that Chairman CDA had assured to place these demands of ICCI before the CDA Board for approval. He said that CDA Board has approved most of the proposals of ICCI, which was laudable. He further demanded that the CDA should now issue notifications of the decisions made by the CDA Board for their implementation, which would facilitate in promoting business activities.

Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that at the request of ICCI, the CDA had allowed construction of additional storey in the markets but their charges were made so high that it was impossible to build additional storey. He said that on the demand of ICCI, the CDA Board has now reduced the charges for construction of additional floor by 50 percent, which was commendable. He said that ICCI has been calling upon the CDA since long for allowing multiple trades on industrial plots including information technology and now the CDA Board has allowed multiple trades on these plots including IT which will boost industrial activity in the region and stabilize the economy.

The ICCI President said that for the last several years, the business community had been facing serious problems in renewal of leases for commercial and industrial plots as the CDA had made this process very complicated. However, at the proposal of ICCI, the CDA Board has decided to fix Rs.100,000 per canal for renewal of lease of industrial plots which will solve this long standing problem. He said that according to the new decision of the Board, CDA would now charge according to the size of plots instead of the size of the buildings and apartments constructed on land, which would eliminate many complications and boost business activities.

Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that the new decisions of the CDA Board would increase the construction activities in Islamabad which would boost the business of more than 40 other allied industries. He demanded that the CDA should issue notification of new decisions of its Board as soon as possible so that there would be no difficulties in their implementation and business activities would flourish leading to creation of multiple benefits to the economy.

ICCI urges government to focus on controlling rising inflation

Islamabad, August 25, 2020 (PPI-OT): Tahir Abbasi, Senior Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has demanded that the government should take immediate corrective measures to curb the rising inflation, which had risen to 9.30 percent in July this year putting more burden on the common man. He said that according to the figures of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the prices of 20 items have increased and prices of only 9 items decreased during the week ended on 20 August 2020, which showed that inflation was still on the rise. He said that the life of the common man was becoming more difficult due to rising prices of daily use items and the government should realize people’s problems. He said that due to the hike in inflation, business activities were also suffering as rising inflation was reducing the purchasing power of the people which was detrimental to the economy.

Tahir Abbasi said that one of the main reasons for the rise in inflation was the unnecessary increase made by the government in the prices of petroleum products, so he demanded that the government should consider immediate reduction in the prices of petroleum products to bring down inflation and provide relief to people. He said that at a time when the oil price in the international market has come down significantly, it was unjustified for the government to increase the prices of petroleum products. He said that the reduction in POL prices that would bring various benefits to the economy as it would reduce the cost of doing business for trade and industry, agriculture and other sectors, reduce inflation and improve business activities paving way for the economy to recover rapidly.

Saif-ur-Rehman Khan, Vice President ICCI said that the prices of food items including flour and sugar have also gone up which has made it difficult for the common man to meet the basic necessities of life. He called upon the government to take immediate remedial measures to reduce the prices of daily use items for providing relief to the common man. He said that despite being an agricultural country, Pakistan has to import wheat, sugar and other agricultural commodities which should be a matter of concern for the government. He urged that the government should address the problems being faced by the farmers on priority basis and ensure timely supply of high quality seeds, fertilizers and other essentials including water to them.

Saif ur Rehman Khan further said that the government should extend all possible assistance to the farmers in acquiring modern technology so that they could use the new technology to increase the per acre yield of agriculture and Pakistan should not have to import other agricultural commodities including wheat and sugar. He was of the view that by producing surplus commodities, Pakistan could increase its agricultural exports, which will further improve our foreign exchange reserves and yield beneficial results for the economy.

ICCI lauds Government’s agreement with IPPs to reduce power tariff

Islamabad, August 24, 2020 (PPI-OT): The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has lauded the move of the government to sign a basic agreement with the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to reduce power tariffs and provide cheap electricity to the end consumers terming it a highly positive development that would help in bringing down the cost of doing business and facilitating the growth of business activities.

Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that electricity cost in Pakistan was very high in the region, which was a major cause of high production cost making our exports uncompetitive in the international market. He said that high power tariffs were also a discouraging factor for the potential investors as capital always moved towards the destinations where manufacturing cost was quite reasonable. He hoped that the agreement of the government signed with IPPs would pave way for reviving the business activities and attracting more local and foreign investment in the country.

ICCI President said that the power generated through expensive fossil fuel has the highest share in our energy mix and significant depreciation in the value of rupee against dollar has made great increase in energy cost due to which growth of industry was facing severe problems. He said that Pakistan has great potential to generate cheap electricity through hydro and other renewable sources and stressed that the government should focus on enhancing the share of cheap power sources in its energy mix that would facilitate the accelerated growth of business and investment activities and put the economy on the path of sustainable growth.

Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that transmission and distribution and T and D) losses in Pakistan were quite high as compared to international benchmark and to cover these losses, successive governments always resorted to the easy solution of increasing power tariffs for commercial and domestic consumers, but this approach has produced harmful consequences for the economy.

Therefore, he stressed that government should bring drastic reforms in power companies to improve their performance and reduce their T and D losses. He said that government should consider privatization of power companies that would bring healthy competition in energy sector as has been witnessed in the banking and telecom sectors. He said that privatization of power companies would ultimately lead to the improvement in their companies and generation of electricity at competitive rates that would produce multiple benefits to the economy.

CDA Chairman announces 50 percent cut in additional storey charges

Islamabad, August 21, 2020 (PPI-OT): Aamir Ali Ahmed, Chairman CDA said that under the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan to promote the construction activities, CDA is reducing the charges of additional storey in markets by 50 percent that would give boost to business activities. He said this while addressing a delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry that met him led by Muhammad Ahmed Waheed President.

Tahir Abbasi Senior Vice President, Sair ur Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI, Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi Convener ICCI CDA Committee, Sheikh Tariq Sadiq, Nasir M. Qureshi, Shaban Khalid, Khalid Chaudhry, Muhammad Ali Mirza, Tahir Ayub and others were in the delegation. CDA Member Finance Rana Shakeel, Member Engineering and Planning Dr. Shahid, Member State Naveed Elahi, Director BCS Naeem Baig, Directors of various departments, DGM Shafaq Hashmi and Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamza Shafqat along with his team were also present at the occasion.

Amir Ali Ahmad said that additional storey charges were being reduced by half in all markets of Islamabad to promote the construction activities. He further said that development works would be carried out in various markets at a cost of Rs.250 million and this process would start within a month including carpeting of roads and repair of footpaths.

Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry speaking at the occasion said that ICCI for the last many years has been discussing with CDA the same agenda of development of markets and industrial and hoped that the current Chairman CDA would address these problems. He said that lease renewal was a major issue that needed to be addressed urgently. He said that in 2000, the CDA Board had extended the lease period of all industrial plots from 33 years to 99 years, but now this process has been stopped and tax @ of one percent of the value was being demanded.

He urged the Chairman CDA to present the issue of lease renewal before the CDA Board as early as possible for extension of lease period up to 99 years and for abolition of one per cent tax of the value. Mohammad Ijaz Abbasi, Convener, ICCI CDA Committee said that four years ago, the CDA Board had approved new industrial building by-laws that covered the height of industrial buildings, permission for multiple businesses and expansion of construction area, but their notification was still pending and urged for immediate issuance of notification for implementation of new byelaws.

Sheikh Tariq Sadiq highlighted the lease renewal issues and Chairman CDA issued orders to remove all obstacles in renewing of leases. Mirza Muhammad Ali and Tahir Ayub stressed for the need of a truck stand in I-11 and asked Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqat to personally visit and allot plot for the truck stand. They also requested for reduction of additional store charges in I-11 Fruit Market on which the Chairman CDA immediately announced a 50% cut in charges. On the demand of Nasir M. Qureshi, Chairman CDA announced to allocate an amount of Rs. 160 million for development works including construction of roads in Kahuta Industrial Triangle.

Traders demand cut in board tax and multi-storey parking plazas in markets

Islamabad, August 20, 2020 (PPI-OT): A meeting of the Traders Welfare Committee of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry was held under the chairmanship of its convener Khalid Mahmood Chaudhry, which was attended by representatives of various markets. A resolution was passed calling upon Sheikh Ansar Aziz, Mayor Islamabad to immediately issue orders for withdrawal of board tax notices issued to traders. Another resolution was passed to call upon the CDA to arrange the construction of multi-storey parking plazas in various Marakaz and markets and start development works in these business areas to save them from further destruction.

Addressing the meeting, Tahir Abbasi, Senior Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that no development work was done in any market of Islamabad for the last five years though the collection of taxes was higher than before. “If the markets continue to be neglected like this, they will soon turn into ruins, so the CDA should pay immediate attention to the better development of the markets,” he said.

Expressing his views, Khalid Mahmood Chaudhry, Former Senior Vice President ICCI and Convener of the Chamber’s Traders Welfare Committee said that the MCI had unilaterally increased the board tax, which was illegal as stakeholders were not taken into confidence. He demanded that Sheikh Ansar Aziz, Mayor Islamabad should immediately issue orders for the withdrawal of board tax notices issued to traders and urged that all legal requirements should be met before raising any kind of tax. He said that there was no magistrate for MCI while the present magistrate was for CDA only and the district magistrate did not issue any notification to MCI.

Chaudhry Nadeem ud Din, PTI Traders Wing Coordinator and Chairman of the Task Force said that the present government wanted to solve the problems of traders but was being hampered by differences between the MCI and the CDA. However, all hurdles will be removed soon to address the issues of traders.

Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi, Sardar Tahir Mahmood, Muhammad Hussain, Malik Rab Nawaz, Abdul Rehman Siddiqui, Zahid Ahmed, Naveed Abbasi, Ch. Zafar Iqbal Gujjar, Chaudhry Irfan, Musharraf Janjua, Muhammad Kashif, Chaudhry Ashraf, Chaudhry Zahid Rafiq, Wasim Abbasi, Syed Altaf Hussain Shah, Chaudhry Ashraf Farzand, Ashfaq Hussain Chatha, Ahmed Khan, Yasir Abbasi, Raja Safeer, Waqas Janjua, Saeed Ahmed Bhatti, Mehboob Ahmed Khan and Chaudhry Nadeem ud Din, Chief Coordinator PTI Traders Wing attended the meeting. Speaking at the occasion, they demanded that multi-storey parking plazas should be constructed in Marakaz and markets of Islamabad. They further demanded that all encroachments from markets should be removed to facilitate the growth of trade activities.