The auto manufactures on Thursday told the sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the import of re-conditioned vehicles was cancer for auto industry. The PAC sub-committee met here under the chairmanship of Hamid Yar Hiraj to discuss and prepare a policy for reduction of prices to affordable level for the general public, including deletion programme related to manufacturing of cars, buses, tractors and motorcycles.
Hamid Yar Hiraj said auto manufacturers got premium (extra money) on every new vehicle, which was totally illegal and unjustified.
He said the government and its attached departments bought 50 per cent of the newly manufactured vehicles and added that there should be no compromise on the quality of vehicles.
The committee said that in the past policies were prepared for individuals, not for the nation, which was unfortunate. The committee directed the Ministry of Commerce to prepare recommendations for a new auto policy, which should be acceptable to every stakeholder, within 15 days.
The commerce secretary told the committee that the duty structure for the new vehicles should be revised because duty structure on imported re-conditioned vehicles was affordable for consumers rather than the new ones.
An official from the Atlas Honda Company told the committee that 1.7 million motorbikes were being manufactured annually in the country at an average cost of Rs 40,000.
He said that Pakistan exported motorbikes to Afghanistan and Bangladesh, which was a turning point. He said that a total of one 100 manufacturers were manufacturing motorbikes in the country. They import only engine while all other parts were manufactured in the country, he said and added that the government policies should be implemented in true spirit.
An official from the Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited said that the government received Rs 1 million tax on a Rs 2.1 million Honda car. He said that the company on the directive of the government invested Rs 3 billion to enhance its production from 30,000 to 50,000 vehicles annually in 2006.
He said that Honda launched its new model globally after six years and added that except engine and transmission whole parts of the vehicles were manufactured locally.
He said that consumers bought 700,000 cars annually, including 155,000 new ones and the rest re-conditioned cars imported from different countries. He said that there was no age limit fixed for the vehicles in Pakistan whereas in Japan every vehicle had to acquire fitness certificate after 3 years.
