New auto policy to be unveiled soon

It will offer incentives, concession in taxes to investors

BEIJING:

Pakistan is planning to enhance its annual production of automobiles from the existing 250,000 units to about 6-8 million units over the next five years, said Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Moinul Haque.

Addressing the “Pakistan Automobile Industry Roundtable Seminar” held at the Pakistan Embassy in Beijing on Wednesday, he termed the target achievable keeping in view the yearly growth in production.

He cherished that different automobile companies from across the globe, especially Chinese enterprises, were interested in investing in the vehicle segment of Pakistan.

“Many Chinese companies are already operating in the automobile manufacturing sector in Pakistan while 10 new companies have showed interest in investing in the country,” he said. “They are in the process of inking joint ventures with local partners in the private sector.”

He told seminar participants that the government was formulating a new automobile sector policy and it would be announced soon. “More incentives and concessions in taxes are likely to be offered in the new policy.”

Haque said that automobile companies, including manufacturers of electric vehicles in China, would be invited to set up their plants in greenfield and brownfield categories.

Giving details about Pakistan’s automobile sector, he termed it the fastest-growing sector owing to robust demand and a large population of 220 million people.

“In the past, Japanese manufacturers had set up their production units but in recent times Chinese automobile companies have also started tapping the opportunities available in Pakistan,” he said.

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“China is now emerging as a leading automobile manufacturer in the world with high-quality products.”

While sharing the opportunities under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said that the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) had entered into its second phase, which focused on industrialisation, science, technology and agriculture sectors.

“Pakistan is setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Chinese investors have been invited to set up their manufacturing units,” he pointed out.

Haque said that special incentives and policies had been announced for Chinese companies and so far nearly 100 Chinese enterprises had either established their units in the SEZs or were in the process of doing so.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2021.

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