K-P businesses grieve at govt’s broken promises
Only a handful of industrialists and traders benefit from prime minister’s financial relief and incentive package.
ISLAMABAD:
Only a handful of industrialists and traders have benefited from the prime minister’s financial relief and incentive package which was intended for the businesses of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata who have been affected by militancy.
These sentiments were expressed during a meeting of businessmen and traders led by the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Haider Khan Hoti.
Approximately 35 business tycoons, who have availed the government’s generosity, are mostly from Peshawar, Nowshera and Mardan, said businessmen during the meeting. Most small traders in Peshawar whose business centres were targeted by series of suicide attacks and bomb explosions were amongst those deprived from a portion of funds, they revealed.
The people and traders of Malakand and Fata were promised to be financially compensated under the package but the federal government has failed to implement the scheme. The lack of required funds has been cited as the cause.
The package was announced by the prime minister in January this year to financially compensate businesses affected by militancy in K-P, Fata and Pata. The prime minister had extended the relief and incentives package while addressing a large gathering of businessmen.
“I want all of you to take further bold initiatives in your businesses,” he said, adding: “The government is with you against terrorists.”
The incentives were worth billions of rupees in the form of relief in income tax, mark-up on bank loans and other concessions proposed under the scheme. Under the package, the rate of mark up on bank loans was reduced to 7.5 per cent from 15 per cent for the business community of the province on existing loans for two years.
The State Bank also provided Rs830 million to different banks to refund businessmen who have already paid mark-up on existing loans.
However, the beneficiaries of the partially implemented package have their eyes on another amount of Rs2 billion, said the meeting participants. The federal government has allocated this amount as mark-up for the next two years.
The package also promised, but later denied, a complete write-off of all loans in Buner, Swat, Malakand agency and Chitral.
The prime minister had also said that the ‘’government will also consider transferring, partly or fully, this year’s budgetary allocation of Rs2.5 billion for the small and medium enterprise credit guarantee fund, allowing increased outreach of this scheme.” The amount has not been transferred, according to the business community.
Under the scheme, soft loans of Rs500,000 to small traders were also promised but the loans have not been provided. Traders also complained that the promise of receiving priority in the use of utilities has also not been honoured.
Hoti told the delegation that the federal government has refused to financially compensate small traders of Peshawar whose business centres were destroyed in bomb explosions last year. The chief minister then assured them that he would provide the estimated compensation of Rs150 million from the provincial government’s resources next year.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2010.
Only a handful of industrialists and traders have benefited from the prime minister’s financial relief and incentive package which was intended for the businesses of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata who have been affected by militancy.
These sentiments were expressed during a meeting of businessmen and traders led by the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Haider Khan Hoti.
Approximately 35 business tycoons, who have availed the government’s generosity, are mostly from Peshawar, Nowshera and Mardan, said businessmen during the meeting. Most small traders in Peshawar whose business centres were targeted by series of suicide attacks and bomb explosions were amongst those deprived from a portion of funds, they revealed.
The people and traders of Malakand and Fata were promised to be financially compensated under the package but the federal government has failed to implement the scheme. The lack of required funds has been cited as the cause.
The package was announced by the prime minister in January this year to financially compensate businesses affected by militancy in K-P, Fata and Pata. The prime minister had extended the relief and incentives package while addressing a large gathering of businessmen.
“I want all of you to take further bold initiatives in your businesses,” he said, adding: “The government is with you against terrorists.”
The incentives were worth billions of rupees in the form of relief in income tax, mark-up on bank loans and other concessions proposed under the scheme. Under the package, the rate of mark up on bank loans was reduced to 7.5 per cent from 15 per cent for the business community of the province on existing loans for two years.
The State Bank also provided Rs830 million to different banks to refund businessmen who have already paid mark-up on existing loans.
However, the beneficiaries of the partially implemented package have their eyes on another amount of Rs2 billion, said the meeting participants. The federal government has allocated this amount as mark-up for the next two years.
The package also promised, but later denied, a complete write-off of all loans in Buner, Swat, Malakand agency and Chitral.
The prime minister had also said that the ‘’government will also consider transferring, partly or fully, this year’s budgetary allocation of Rs2.5 billion for the small and medium enterprise credit guarantee fund, allowing increased outreach of this scheme.” The amount has not been transferred, according to the business community.
Under the scheme, soft loans of Rs500,000 to small traders were also promised but the loans have not been provided. Traders also complained that the promise of receiving priority in the use of utilities has also not been honoured.
Hoti told the delegation that the federal government has refused to financially compensate small traders of Peshawar whose business centres were destroyed in bomb explosions last year. The chief minister then assured them that he would provide the estimated compensation of Rs150 million from the provincial government’s resources next year.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2010.