Lahore
Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razaq Dawood has said that duty on import on raw materials for industries is being reduced by 6 percent from January 1 and it will benefit industry.
The advisor said this on Saturday while having a meeting with industrialists and businessmen of Punjab at the Civil Secretariat Lahore. Provincial Minister for Industries and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal was also present on the occasion.
Problems facing industrialists, industrialisation and other issues were discussed during the meeting. Mian Aslam Iqbal gave a detailed briefing on the promotion of industrialisation in Punjab and future strategy.
Abdul Razaq Dawood said, “I am the representative of industrialists in Islamabad and I will resolve all their genuine problems”. He said that industrialists should give suggestions for long-term planning of industrialisation. He said that state-of-the-art testing lab should also be established.
He said that the area where industries are located should be given the status of an industrial estate so that industry could take benefit. He said that the business community should take benefit of the government’s temporary economic refinance facility for importing machinery and the scheme of the federal government worth Rs100 billion would continue till March 31st, 2021.
Mian Aslam Iqbal has said that mapping has been done in collaboration with urban units for setting up new industries in Punjab. New economic hubs will also be made in the province, he added.
He said that for the first time in the history of Punjab 4 special economic zones are being set up in the private sector. The new cement plant will bring investment of Rs6 billion, adding 233,000 children have been enrolled in TEVTA institutions for technical education.
Mian Aslam Iqbal said that the inspector-less regime has been prepared and will be introduced soon. New industrial estates are also being set up throughout the Punjab, he further said.
Secretary Industries Wasif Khursheed, Chairman PIEDMC Nabeel Hashmi, President Chamber of Commerce and Industry Lahore Mian Tariq Misbah and presidents of other various chambers of the Punjab were also present in the meeting. —TLTP
