Govt ‘Pardons’ Car Makers for Carelessly Importing Thousands of Vehicles

The Ministry of Industries & Production gave a clean chit to the companies/manufacturers/assemblers companies while saying that none of the companies exceeded the legal permission of 100 vehicles of the same variant on exemption of Custom Duty to the extent of 50 percent of the prevailing rate.

There were reports that some auto companies had legal permission to import 100-200 vehicles but they imported around ten thousand vehicles which resulted in the outflow of dollars.

Official documents available with ProPakistani revealed that the Ministry of Industries & Production formulated Auto Development Policy (ADP) 2016-21 whereby incentives were offered to Green Field Investors.

In pursuance of this policy, the companies/manufacturers/assemblers were entitled to import 100 vehicles (CBU) of the same variant to be assembled/manufactured for test marketing after the groundbreaking of the project, duly approved/ certified by the Ministry of Industries and Production on the recommendation of Engineering Development Board, on the concession of 50 percent of the prevailing rate of CD under Sr. No. 1 of Table-III of SRO 656(I)2006 dated 22-06-2006.

A list of such companies was duly approved/certified by the Ministry of Industries and Production on the recommendation of the Engineering Development Board along with the details of vehicles (CBU) imported them.

The data clearly indicate that none of the companies exceeded the legal permission of 100 vehicles of the same variant on exemption of Custom Duty to the extent of 50 percent of the prevailing rate under Sr. No. 1 of Table-III of SRO 656(I)/2006 dated 22-06-2006.