The scheme has come under severe criticism from the local automobile industry. The officials of Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers said that the policymakers have no confidence in the local industry that registered a growth rate of 37% year-on-year average during the previous decade, after absorbing inflation shocks and facing power outages. If the proposal is framed into a policy, it will sink the industry making millions of jobs redundant and create significant capital losses, they said.
General Engineering CEO Arshad Awan said that framing a policy is a serious business. “Unfortunately in Pakistan, policy initiatives come as hasty reaction to situations, purely stemmed in personal gains and expression of authority,” he said. Thus, policies hurt rather support economic growth or success of initiatives, he added.
“We are unable to comprehend the reason for a complete ‘one-eighty’ in policy,” he said. Strange justifications have been presented to the ECC that the industry has become strong enough to absorb the CBU import from China and India, he said.
Awan said that China is the largest producer of motorcycles in the world; with a production of 27 million units in 2010-11, its motorcycle industry is booming. Though still it maintains a 90% custom duty on CBU imports, under strict monitoring and regulation by the Chinese government, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2012.
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High time the domestic industry got some competition from abroad. The stuff they're hawking here is just junk. 1970s era motorcycles with carburetor based engines and kick starting mechanisms is what they are selling. They need some competition to force them to upgrade to 21st century technology.