The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Monday said unnecessary secrecy on the economic corridor is against the national interests, as it is harassing the business community.
“The government should trust its subjects and divulge full details of the project so that local and foreign investors can participate in it,” it said.
Different Chinese companies are getting massive tax breaks, which, while there is so much concealment in the whole affair, led to a governor of the central bank speaking in public about the lack of knowledge about the project, said PEW President Dr Murtaza Mughal.
He said that different Chinese companies have been given tax breaks for over two decades which include exemptions from income tax, sales tax, excise duty, customs duty, withholding tax, etc.
Dr Mughal added, “The impact of the taxes will be more than Rs150 billion annually, but the authorities claim that it will not hurt the local industry, which is amazing.”
He said that the project will create hundreds of thousands of jobs but many fear that majority of the jobs will go to the Chinese while locals would be ignored which is against the national interests.
The government needs to launch a study about the impact of the project on the environment as the roads alone will add around 25 per cent of the total national emissions that will have a catastrophic effect on the environmentally sensitive area of Gilgit-Baltistan, he maintained.