LAHORE: The cement manufacturers have criticised the increase in duty on import of coal from 1 percent to 6 percent, saying the surge has hit the local manufacturers and has drastically increased cost of doing business.
All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) Chairman Muhammad Ali Tabba, in a statement, asked the government the increase in import duty on coal should be reduced to zero percent as this would keep open the option of using coal as alternative source of energy. ‘The government had enacted the Gas Infrastructural Development Act of 2011 (2011 Act), whereby the government charged a cess to all gas consumers except those of the domestic sector,’ he added.
Tabba said the government promulgated the Gas Infrastructural Development Ordinance 2014 (2014 Ordinance) which via Section 8 of the 2014 Ordinance attempts to make all amounts collected under the 2011 Act to be validly collected. ‘The 2014 Ordinance was originally to expire in January, 2015 but was extended by the National Assembly till May, 2015,’ he added. In May 2015, he added, the government passed the GIDC Act 2015.
