PESHAWAR: Abdur Rauf Alam, president of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), has urged the federal government to take steps to revive economy of the terror-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Speaking at a luncheon hosted in his honour by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI) here, he said thefederal government should realise that the province suffered due to terrorism and its economy needs to be revived.
Prominent businessmen including patron-in-chief of the United Business Group, SM Munir, Chairman (UBG), Iftikhar Malik, leader Businessmen Forum Senator Ilyas Bilour, KPCCI President Zulfiqar Ali and others were present on the occasion.
Abdur Rauf Alam assured KP business community that the FPCCI would fight for attainment of their rights. He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa people had rendered matchless sacrifices and they need to be compensated by the government by providing them incentives and launching new projects here.
President of the FPCCI also asked KPCCI head to send proposals for upcoming budget, which would be incorporated in the FPCCI suggestions to federal government. The FPCCI, he added, had also sent a letter to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) demanding them to fulfill promises of prime minister which he made with business community of KP about concessions in taxes.
Abdur Rauf Alam stressed the banks to lower interest rates on loans as the
Chinese banks will provide loan to Chinese investors making investment in the CPEC at very low rates and it will be impossible for local businessmen to compete with them.
Similarly, he continued, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and China, which is in the final stage, should be signed at a condition which is win-win for both the countries. Addressing the gathering, Patron-in-Chief of the UBG and CEO Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), S.M Munir demanded the federal government to declare KP as `calamity-hit’ region and exempt it from all type of taxes for a period of four years.
“The KP deserves special treatment because of losses it suffered due to militancy and terrorism,” remarked S. M Munir. Replying to a press statement by some of his critics, S.M Munir said he has brought corruption in TDAP at zero level. Earlier, he said, in the organisation there was a record corruption of Rs13 billion.
He said decrease in export of Pakistan was not because of poor performance of TDAP but because of recession in international market as a result of which prices of commodities dropped.
S.M Munir said in Pakistan the leather export shown a drop of 30 percent, while in India a drop of 56 percent has been registered.He also asked the Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to take measures for release of refund amount which has piled up to Rs300 billion.
KPCCI President Zulfiqar Ali in his speech asked the FPCCI leadership to give due consideration to problems faced by business community of KP.He said KP is being ignored despite the fact that its people have rendered great sacrifices for the cause of security of the country.
UBG Chairman Iftikhar Malik and Leader Businessmen Forum Senator Ilyas Bilour also spoke on the occasion and threw light on different problems being faced by business community of Pakistan in general and KP in particular.
Senator Ilyas Bilour said banks were not cooperating with businessmen of KP and not giving loans to them. The province has been declared as ‘red zone’ by all the banks and requests of businessmen for provision of loans are not given due consideration.