Government urged to implement one-window regime

LAHORE: The Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT) has urged the federal and provincial governments to remove all major hurdles in the path of investors in order to get benefit from the positive investment climate prevailing in the country.
Abdul Basit, the chairman Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT), while talking to The News said, “The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has turned out to be a game changer as after China’s commitment to invest $46 billion in Pakistan, other economic powers do not want to be left out of the benefits that Pakistan’s strategic location offers.”
He said PBIT is receiving numerous calls of prospective investors not only from China but from the developed economies of the west as well. “Investors know that power crisis would be over by the time industries start production in 2017,” he said, they are satisfied that “The terrorism, extortion and law and order issues are being adequately addressed.”
“It would be criminal to waste this opportunity,” he said, adding that the government policies should encourage local production and protect investors.
“I am seeing at least $20 billion additional investment from developed economies in Punjab,” he told.
PBIT is particularly targeting the expat Pakistanis living in USA, Canada and European Union. The expatriates, working in Gulf countries, are mostly low paid labourers and they cannot save their earnings in the countries they work. They send money for the living of their families and invest the surplus in properties, he said.
“Pakistanis living in developed economies have tons of money, which they want to invest in their own country, but do not trust the system prevailing in the country,” the chairman said, they are wary of ever changing government policies and absence of protection for their investments in Pakistan.
“As the PBIT chairman, I have come across some cases where the lands purchased by overseas Pakistani to establish industries were grabbed illegally by influential people of the area,” he said, when such cases are brought to the notice of PBIT, it has to seek the intervention of the highest office of the province to get the lands vacated.
The chairman stressed that the country needs a system where no one could dare to grab someone’s property. He said PBIT is working on a program to ensure that all the hurdles in the way of investments are immediately removed.
Minor irritants frighten the investors away, he said, in one case for instance a large piece of land was bought by an expat Pakistani for establishing industry in an industrial zone in Lahore. But, he was refused approval because a small portion of the land was outside the narrow zone approved for industrial purposes. “Again the intervention of the Chief Minister (CM) was needed to remove the snag,” the chairman told. In fact, the PBIT has recommended that all places in Lahore, where industrial zones exist, are allowed establishment of industrial units of up to 5000 feet on both sides of the road.
Basit said dairy development is one of the priority sectors of PBIT. All large dairy farms are in trouble because the government has allowed liberal import of dry milk.
Further, the duty on dry milk has been reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent, while the duty on import of powdered milk in India is 100 percent.
Since dairy rates globally are at lowest, the processors use more powdered milk instead of fresh milk to make their products. “PBIT would request to the CM of Punjab to take up this matter with the federal government to boost local dairy,” he added.
Similarly, meat processing is a capital intensive industry, Basit said. Duty on processed meat has been reduced to 20 percent opening a floodgate of processed meat products in the local market, while the domestic industry is suffering as the duty on its inputs needed to process meat is 35 percent.
He said PBIT desires all these anti industry measures are addressed by the federal government immediately.
“We are striving hard to ensure one window resolution of all the issues faced by the investor from PBIT platform,” said PBIT chairman. In the past, one window regime turned out to be one more stop in the way of investment.
“We will ensure that all requirements of an investor from the approval of building plan to the sanctions of industrial power load is processed by PBIT in a week,” he said, adding that this would be possible only if all the concerned departments comply with PBIT directives.