The Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers has welcomed the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) decision to bring down age limit of used imported cars from five to three years to support the local industry, which had been adversely affected by the huge influx of used cars.
PAAPAM Chairman, Munir Bana, and Vice Chairman, Usman Malik, in their joint statement on Friday, said that this decision would go a long way in stimulating the growth of the domestic industry and a flagging economy. Deputy Prime Minister/Senior Industries Minister, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, deserves appreciation for accepting the auto industry’s plea and moving a proposal for reduction in the age limit of used car imports.
“Deputy Prime Minister firmly believed that jobs of 2 million workers of the auto industry must be saved. At PAAPAM’s last annual function, he personally made a commitment to raise his voice against imports of used cars in the interest of domestic industry,” said PAAPAM Chairman Munir Bana.
Appreciating Pervaiz Elahi’s services, PAAPAM’s Chairman said that the deputy prime minister had also reduced general sales tax on tractors from 17 % to 5% last year, helping revive the tractor industry and its allied auto parts manufacturing (APM) units.
PAAPAM chairman Munir Bana said that the auto industry was facing a steep decline in production and car assemblers & APMs had retrenched thousands of workers because of continuing imports of used cars. He said that countries like India, Thailand, Malaysia and even Japan protect their local industry by imposing heavy duties to discourage imports. PAAPAM vice chairman Usman Malik added that in order to protect the employment of 2 million persons directly/indirectly associated with the automotive industry and to encourage foreign investment, it was essential to provide fair protection to local industry. He further said that that during the period 2001-2007, with the help of stable policies of the government, the automobile industry went through a period of tremendous expansion, with investments of over Rs40 billion and volumes going up by over 500 per cent. These developments made the auto industry one of the top five industrial sectors of the country in terms of contribution to tax revenue, acquisition of hi-tech manufacturing technologies and generation of employment.
Unfortunately, due to import of used vehicles and other adverse policy factors, our industry is now suffering from excess capacity, he added.
Immediate past Chairman Syed Nabeel Hashmi whilst expressing his delight at the development thanked the deputy prime minister and also called upon the industry as a whole to respond to the government gesture immediately by further enhancing and speeding up production and local content”.
‘It’s a matter of age’
