ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee has decided to summon officials of Ministry of Communications in next meeting for granting tax exemptions to China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited on imported construction material which will be used for the Karachi-Peshawar Motorway.
The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, which met under the chair of Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, has discussed the calling-attention notice submitted by senators for giving tax exemptions to a Chinese company, which is constructing Karachi-Peshawar Motorway (Sukkur-Multan section).
Senator Mandviwalla said that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has given an exemption to the tune of Rs10.98 billion to the Chinese firm.
Similarly, Senator Murtaza Wahab, a mover of the notice, asked why FBR has given tax exemption to a Chinese company. “An exemption could only be given across the board, not to a single company,” he added. “I wonder why Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has given an exemption to the tune of Rs10.98 billion to the Chinese firm”. Meanwhile, committee member, Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Ilyas Bilour said that the issuance of a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) to grant the exemption on import duty after completion of 37 per cent work on the project was incomprehensible. There was no need to FBR to grant tax exemption to the Chinese company, he added.
The officials of the Ministry of Finance and FBR said that the Ministry of Communications had moved a summary to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), which considered and approved it.
Later, the parliamentary committee decided to summon the officials of Ministry of Communications in next meeting for granting tax exemptions to China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited.
