Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Engineer Shaukatullah said after a decade-long unrest, peace has been restored in the province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas(FATA)and thus businessmen should come forward to invest in the areas to generate economic activities both for mutual benefit and in the larger interests of the country.
Inaugurating the second meeting of the managing committee of the
Federation of the Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) which was hosted by the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) at its premises on Monday, the governor further said, “We have been facing problems in KP and FATA for the last decade but now we have entered into a new phase and are on the path of revival”.
The ceremony was attended by leading businessmen and industrialists from across the country besides incumbent president of FPCCI, Malik Zubair and was also addressed by the vice president of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Iftikhar Ali Malik. Appreciating the holding of the session at the federal capital, the governor said, “I have come to Islamabad to invite the business community to invest in FATA as the situation has improved there,” adding that the government would be providing security if required.
In this connection, the governor also mentioned the marble city which is being established near Peshawar and pointed out that work on developing industrial plots is carrying on expeditiously. To ensure stable electrification system, WAPDA has also been asked to establish a grid station at the marble city, he said. The ground reality is that a huge quantity of marble is wasted due to use of old technology and if properly explored, the mineral sector of the country alone has the potential to run the economy of the country, he added.
Shaukatullah urged the need for expanding the tax net instead of putting further burden on the existing taxpayers. The irony of the matter is, he said, that out of the total Rs 0.8 million tax money, Rs 0.5 million is paid by government employees while the remaining 0.3 million comes from businessmen.
Rather than putting further burden on the businessmen, there is a need to take measures to broaden the tax net ambit, he said. He further said there was a need to simplify the overall tax system to make it user friendly.
Speaking on the occasion, vice president SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Iftikhar Ali Malik, who is also the co-Chairman of FPCCI, stressed the importance of ensuring a conducive atmosphere in KP and FATA to encourage foreign investments. “We have to create an atmosphere to facilitate overseas Pakistanis to come here and invest in various fields of the economy,” he said.
Earlier, ICCI President Zafar Bakhtawari stressed the need for broadening the tax net also.
He said political stability is the key to economic development and described the upcoming scenario a good omen for making this possible.
