APCPC for constituting CPEC cell to facilitate investors

RAWALPINDI, Mar 14 (APP):The All Pakistan Chambers Presidents’ Conference International (APCPCI) Wednesday suggested the government to constitute a separate China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) cell in the Federal departments to facilitate businessmen and foreign/domestic investors who intend to invest under the CPEC regime.
Addressing the APCPC’s concluding session at Gwadar, President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(RCCI) Zahid Latif Khan urged the government that Gwadar region be facilitated with efficient connectivity with other parts of the country through airlinks, railways, marine and double roads to connect the surrounding cities.
One window operation for investors should be introduced to cater to the problems of businessmen and facilitate the processes in an efficient manner under the proposed board, he added.
He also proposed that Special Economic Zones (SEZ) be prioritized in the remote areas of Sindh, Punjab, KPK, Balochistan and AJK and there should preferably be sizeable percentage of hiring local manpower in all projects of the specific area.
Commenting on taxation, Zahid said tax rate should be rationalized and widened and pointed out that business community believes that taxation system for small and medium sized business should be re-engineered and simplified with the concept of “Pay
as you go” in simplified manner.
The RCCI president said Tax rate should be brought down to 15 percent and focus should be on expanding the tax net. Inter-provincial sales tax adjustment should be facilitated while the rate of sales tax should be brought to one digit. He opined that
withholding tax deduction on cash withdrawal of Tax payers be abolished while it may continue for non-tax payers.
Tax Amnesty Schemes should be abolished and in case is it is to apply then it may not deal with repeat cases.
The conference urged that government should eradicate corruption and develop a culture without harassment by government departments.
The two-day 10th APCPC moot adopted joint declaration with an aim to promote business and trade activities throughout the country as without a stable economy the goal of self-sufficiency could not be achieved.
The APCPCI, hosted by RCCI, adopted five points agenda including focus on CPEC and decrease the ratio of Sales Tax to single digit, increase tax net, tax base, removal of discretionary powers given to the commissioners, ease of doing business, skill
development and more connectivity to Gwadar.
The RCCI Chief said that its’ an honor and legacy for RCCI that it has been organizing this event for the last nine years regularly . This time we picked Gwadar as event venue so that business community can see the development on the ground
and get aware about future aspects of CPEC.
The conference was attended by key government dignitaries including Minister of State for Finance, Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, National Security Adviser Lieutenant General (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, and representatives from more than 40 chambers of Commerce across Pakistan, Vice President Khalid Farooq Qazi, Group Leader Suhail Altaf former presidents, members of the
executive committee, representatives from Gwadar Port and Chamber of Commerce and a large of traders and industrialists.