'GIDC being exploited for political gains'

Regrets withdrawal of ordinance will affect industrial production

FAISALABAD: The gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC) is purely an economic issue which is being unnecessarily exploited for political gains, said Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) President Syed Zia Alumdar Hussain.

Speaking at a meeting of industrialists on Wednesday, he expressed concern that withdrawal of the GIDC ordinance immediately after its promulgation would badly affect industrial production.

In the wake of acute gas shortage in the country, the previous government had planned to import gas from Iran through the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and from Turkmenistan through the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) pipeline, he pointed out.

He recalled that the government had levied GIDC in order to meet expenses of these projects but could not begin work on them despite collecting Rs500 billion from the already overburdened industrial sector.

Most industrialists from Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa challenged the cess and received stay orders from courts. However, the industrialists of Punjab were forced to pay approximately Rs500 billion under the head, he said. Hussain told the industrialists that under the GIDC Act, the government was bound to submit quarterly progress reports on gas pipeline projects in the National Assembly but since physical work was never started, the reports were not submitted in the National Assembly.

Terming GIDC an act of extortion, he was of the view that there was no justification for the cess and industrialists from Sindh and K-P got stay orders from courts due to the same reason. He pointed out that the current government tried to settle down the issue through the GIDC ordinance, which was unnecessarily criticised for political motives and hence the government was forced to withdraw it.

“Under the ordinance, the government had only waived 50% of dues despite the fact that there was no justification for this levy,” he added.

Meanwhile, FCCI Vice President Hafiz Ihtasham Javed was of the view that the GIDC ordinance was in the national interest and it was being opposed in order to inflict a colossal loss to the already dwindling economy.

He underscored that politicians must segregate economic issues from political matters so that the country could make progress through sustained and business-friendly economic policies.

Former FCCI president Rizwan Ashraf said media should also realise that there was no valid reason for the imposition of GIDC and that was why courts had issued stay orders. He stressed that politicising the purely economic issue would not only have negative repercussions for the national economy but would also cause unemployment in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2019.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.