ISLAMABAD: Minister of State and Board of Investment (BoI) Chairman Miftah Ismail has said that 10 percent waiver of customs duty from 800CC to 1800CC vehicles will be only for two years that will be started from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018.
During an exclusive interview with Customs Today, Miftah Ismail said that concessions of customs duty on auto parts will be for five years. He said that the government has decided to decrease duty on motorcycles from 65 percent to 50 percent for five years. He said that Pakistan will be able to produce 350,000 vehicles, 2,500,000 motorcycles, 88,000 tractors, 79,000 light commercial vehicles till 2021.
Answering a question, Miftah Ismail said that the government has announced to increase the share of auto industry from 2.3 percent to 3.8 percent, while in manufacturing sector the government increased share from 22 percent to 30 percent.
He said Dewan Motors is engaged in talks with their Korean counterparts to restore their plant. He sad most of companies which are operating in Pakistan are vehicle assemble, they are not car manufacturing companies. He said that a common citizen will definitely get benefits after announcement of new auto policy. He hoped that now consumers can witness slight increase in sale of cars.
He was disagreed with the question that there is competition between Honda and Toyota. He said that there is always difference of atleast Rs 2,00,000 in prices of Toyota and Honda. He said government held successful talks with Renault and Nissan and both of these companies are agreed to establish their plants in Pakistan.
Miftah Ismail said that he himself is going to Italy in near future to hold talks with some car companies. He said Nissan is going to introduce new vehicle “Nisan Datsun.”. He said new brands of cars ranging from 800CC to 1800CC will be introduced. He said government will welcome any company who wants to make investment in Pakistan. He said beside Japan, government is already in talks with other companies. He said we are advising all these comanies to establish their plants also transfer the technology. He said now there are 1,55,000 vehicles are being manufactured in Pakistan annually. He said we don’t want to discourage local investors.
Minister of State Miftah Ismail said that car manufacturing organizations bound to deliver the vehicles to customers within two months after payment of 50 percent prices, if the company fail to deliver the vehicle to customer then additional penalty will be imposed on car manufacturing company.
He dispel the impression that government consulted with Japanese government on recently announced auto policy. He said after announcement of auto policy there will be 16,000,00 job opportunities will be emerged. He said government is adopting different strategies to enhance foreign investment in the country.
