Category: Industry

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry, has said that the government has set a 0.5 million car production target under the new auto policy.

The minister after the cabinet briefing informed the media that the government has set a 0.5 million production target from the current level of cars production of 240,000 under the new auto policy. He also said that there is a growth in the auto sector as there are now 15 car manufacturers in the country while banks loans for car financing also increased to Rs. 378 billion from Rs. 240 billion.

There was a considerable increase in car production, motorbikes and tractors in the country while the sale was also showing significant growth during the last two years. He also said that wealth creation is improving as not only the textile but IT exports have been increased by 38 percent.

The Minister further stated that the production of crops was very encouraging this year with cotton production of 8.5 million bales and highest ever rice production of 8.8 million tonnes and sugarcane 88.1 million tonnes.

The Minister admitted that there was an increase in expenditure and this increase was primarily because of the import of vaccines and payment to our IPPs.

He said that the payment was made because expensive plants of power generation were set up on imported fuel during the tenure of the previous government led by Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif due to which electricity in Pakistan is expensive.

The minister said that the cabinet notified the national food security management committee for approval of national food security with the prime minister in the chair and some ministers and secretaries as its members.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Delegation of Ericsson Pakistan Pvt. Ltd. called on Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Syed Amin Ul Haque, on Wednesday.

Matters related to digitalization and mobile phone manufacturing were discussed during the meeting.

Talking to the delegation, the Federal Minister for IT said that strong measures were underway for connectivity both in urban and rural areas of the country. He said that the provision of low price and quality mobile phones is the need of the hour. Pakistan is a mega-market of technology, and there is great potential in our youth, the minister remarked.

Syed Amin Ul Haque urged Ericsson to employ the services of skilled Pakistani youth. He said there were five National Incubation Centers (NICs) in Pakistan presently, adding that two more Incubation Centers will be operative in Hyderabad and Faisalabad in the next six months.

Speaking at the occasion, Chairman Ericsson, Ekow Nelson, said that Ericsson wanted expansion and diversification in Pakistan. We are committed to bringing investment and the best technology to Pakistan, he added.

Secretary IT, Dr. Sohail Rajput, and senior officers of the Ministry were also present.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The cost of Islamabad Model Prison, a project started in 2017 with an estimated cost of Rs. 3.9 billion, has escalated to Rs. 12 billion due to the increase in prices of raw material amid the delayed execution.

This was unearthed in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development & Special Initiatives held at the Parliament House on Tuesday with Senator Saleem Mandviwalla in the chair.

The Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives gave a detailed briefing on the project started by the Ministry of Interior, following a suo moto notice of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, in Sector H-16, Islamabad.

The Ministry of Planning informed the committee that the budget for the prison project had been increased from the pre-launch estimated expenditure to Rs. 12 billion, while the housing cost of one inmate of prison would be Rs. 5.4 million. It was informed that the project was to be completed in 2019, and since 2017, only Rs. 1.6 billion could be spent on it. The long delays and escalated cost of construction material have pushed the authorities to demand more funds.

Chairman Senator Salim Mandviwalla and the members expressed their annoyance and termed the project to be the costliest project to house prisoners in the country.

Talking to ProPakistani, Senator Salim Mandviwalla said the prison project was started in 2017, and it was to be completed within three years. He regretted that after the passage of five years, only Rs. 1.6 billion could be spent and the project cost had gone three times higher. He said, “the housing cost of one prisoner would be Rs 5.4 million which makes it the most expensive [jail] inmates housing facility.”

Salim Mandviwalla said that the committee had summoned the officials concerned of the Interior Ministry to brief it on the reasons for the delay. He was of the opinion that a standard house of three bedrooms for a family of eight members could be built within Rs. 5 million.

He regretted that the losses caused to the national exchequer by not completing the projects on time and taking project costs beyond the budgeted amounts. He asserted that the prison project would be included in the agendas of all the committee meetings.

The Ministry informed the committee that the Chief Justices of Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court had visited the Islamabad jail project and had formed an evaluation committee.

The committee was informed that 1.6% of the total cost of the project had been spent and that the pending inquiries were cleared, while PC-I was to be revised. It was informed that within a few days the finalized change in design would be submitted to the evaluation committee for further progress.

The meeting was attended by Senator Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhary, Danesh Kumar, Saadia Abbasi, Nuzhat Sadiq, Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tareen, and Senator Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan along with senior officials from the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The government is considering raising the withholding tax (WHT) on cellular services from 10 percent to 15 percent in the forthcoming mini-budget.

The advance tax on telecom services was originally cut from 12.5 percent to 10 percent in the state budget for FY2021-22. The government also decided to reduce the advance tax on telecom consumers by another two percent to eight percent for the fiscal year 2023 — a decision that was welcomed by stakeholders and the general public.

However, it appears that the government is prepared to reverse its decision to raise revenue in the second half of this fiscal year, with a five-percentage-point hike in advance tax on the horizon. If the draft proposition is implemented, the cellular advance tax will be raised to a historic high of 15 percent.

Other reports suggest that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has recommended a 50 percent increment in taxes on telecom customers in the mini-budget to end the various tax exemptions that were announced in the federal budget in June.

WHT is currently collected at a rate of 10 percent from all telecom users, regardless of their taxable obligations. Only about 2.9 million individuals from a population of 220 million (one percent of the total population) file income tax returns. Despite the fact that the majority of Pakistan’s population has non-taxable incomes, these individuals are required to pay WHT, which they will never be able to recover.

Experts have demanded that the government support the Prime Minister’s vision of Digital Pakistan by lowering taxes. They opined that high taxes may jeopardize the Digital Pakistan agenda as millions of Pakistanis are already unable to afford most mobile phone services.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Pakistan and Asian Development Bank (ADB) will sign six financing loan agreements worth $1.535 billion on Wednesday, according to official sources privy to the development. Minister for Economic Affairs, Omar Ayub Khan, will witness the loan signing ceremony.

The projects will encompass energy sector, social protection initiatives, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cities uplift, cross-regional transportation, and water resources.

As per relevant documents, the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) and ADB will sign a loan agreement worth $600 million for an integrated social protection development program (Ehsaas program).

Another project worth $300 million would be signed for energy sector reforms and financial sustainability program.

EAD and ADB will also sign a loan agreement of $380 million for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Investment project. They will sign a loan agreement of $15 million for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project (PRF II).

The two parties will also sign a loan agreement of $235 million for the Central Asia Economic Transport Corridor Development Program (Tranche 2).

The two sides will also sign a loan agreement of $5 million for the Kurram Tangi Integrated Water Resources Development Project.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Jiye Technologies, a Pakistan-based agri-supply chain platform, has raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by numerous investors and venture firms.

According to the startup’s official press release, the round saw participation from Rabeel Warraich of Sarmayacar, Issa Aghabi of Access Bridge Ventures, Samih Toukan of Jabbar Internet Group, Ahmed El Hamawy of EquiTie, Charlie Graham-Brown of Seedstars, and a distinct investor channel from MENAP, Europe, and North America.

Commenting on the seed round, Ali Amin, a co-founder of Jiye Technologies, said, “We are driven by impact; we like to bring positive change in categories which impact the masses in Pakistan, hence, we chose to fix a phenomenon that touches almost 70% of the country’s population.”

Another co-founder of the startup, Ahmed Bilal Afzal, said, “We saw the supply chain inefficiencies and its fallouts creating a downward spiral of issues for Pakistan. I always wanted to leverage my experience to solve problems for the masses and capitalize on technology to create a larger impact.”

With the new funds funneled in line with the startup’s near term plans for infrastructural development, Jiye Technologies is currently expanding to five major cities in Pakistan, making it the fastest-growing agri-supply chain platform in the country, after scaling more than 30x in only five months with a rapidly increasing team of over 150. They plan to expand into MENA in 2022 to take advantage of the $120-billion market.

It is to note that despite having the world’s fifth-largest population and one of the largest harvest land areas, agriculture in Pakistan has grown at a meager two percent year-on-year in the last 10 years, which appears to be a challenge yet an incentive at the same time.

Source: Pro Pakistani