KARACHI: Pakistan Auto Show (PAPS) 2019 kicked off at Expo Center Karachi Friday but no significant government official participated in the inaugural ceremony.
Organizers said they had invited the high-level officials including Prime Minister’s Advisor on Trade and Commerce Abdul Razaq Dawood, but none of them bothered to spare time for this auspicious event owing to their other ‘pressing’ activities.
However, one stakeholder on the condition of anonymity told The News that organisers simply failed to persuade the the top government officials to get involved in the show. “This is weakness of the organisers,” he said. The show, which will be on until April 14 at the Expo Center, is organised by Karachi by Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM) where original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and auto part makers are showcasing their products and expertise.
On the other hand, speakers at the launching ceremony said consistent policies, localisation, government support, and lower taxes would move Pakistan auto industry forward and contribute to the country’s growth.
Muhammad Ashraf Shaikh, chairman PAAPAM and Mashood Ali Khan, chairman PAPS 2019, in a joint statement said PAAPAM had always played a pivotal role to provide business and growth opportunities to auto engineering industry as a whole.
At PAPS 2019, PAAPAM has established a substantive business generation model for everyone including its members as well as the representatives of the allied industry, they added.
Tariq Ahmed Khan, senior director corporate strategy and regulation affairs, Indus Motor Company, said Pakistan economy had a promising future.
“With improved governance and fiscal policies, optimum utilisation of natural resources, and increasing skills of young dynamic human capital, a shining place for Pakistan is not a dream,” Khan added.
He said with the lowest motorisation levels of 18 per 1000, the potential of achieving 500,000 vehicles a year was not far from being tapped to the full.
The Indus Motor official urged the government to continue its consultation process with industry and remove barriers that were shaking consumer confidence.
“One such barrier is 10 percent federal excise duty application on vehicles above 1700 cc,” he pointed out and requested for its removal to encourage local vehicle manufacturing.
Asif Rizvi, CEO Kia Lucky Motors (KLM), said his company stood fully committed to localisation.
“The pace of localisation may be a little slower but not because of the concessionary duty regime or a lack of desire to localise but only due to low volume at the start and simultaneous launch of multiple products, not attempted previously,” Rizvi explained and urged the Engineering Development Board (EDB) to link the very successful tariff based localisation regime to volume, so that high technology products having low volume could be introduced viably.
He said to unleash this huge potential in the auto industry, Pakistan needed to take some measures.
“Today 30-38 percent of the value of a car assembled in Pakistan is collected by the government in the shape of various levies. While I cannot advocate lowering duties on completely knocked down (CKD) kits only as it will have detrimental effects on the viability of localised parts,” the KLM chief said.
However a reduction in CKD duty and an equivalent reduction of duty on components that went into manufacturing of local parts could be advocated, Rizvi said, adding, that the safest reduction of levies would be in the form of reducing sales tax and FED.
