Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry urges government to give priority to Industrial sector in supply of gas

Lahore, March 31, 2014 (PPI-OT): The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday urged the government to give priority to the Industrial sector in the supply of gas.

In a statement issued here, the LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari said that it is a welcome sign that the government has decided to restore gas to the CNG sector but it would have been wiser if the priority is attached to the sector that not only generates revenues for the government but also provides jobs to the millions of workers.

The LCCI President said that the government needs to review its decision regarding the provision of gas as all over the world the priority is given to the industry that earns revenues and creates jobs but unfortunately the situation in Pakistan was the other way round.

Engineer Sohail Lashari said that the industry should be facilitated as it would not only be making it competitive but also enabling it to bring in much needed foreign exchange. He said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry understands well that if the cost of doing business would come down it would not only expedite economic activities in the country but would help bring down fast going up graph of unemployment that is alarmingly high.

He said that if the government wanted to facilitate the poor segments of the society, it should allocate gas to the public transport and small vehicles while this facility should not be given to the big vehicles. He said that the industry had already suffered immensely because of high cost of doing business therefore this relief should be passed on to the industrial sector first.

The LCCI President said that the country’s economy at the moment was in dire need of some kind of stimulus and if the priority is given to it in the provision of gas it would only strengthen the economic indicators but would also help avail GSP plus status in a winsome manner.

Engineer Sohail Lashari said that a number of manufacturing units had already shifted their operations to the neighbouring countries losing trust in the will of the government to provide facilitation to the industry and because of comparatively lower cost of doing business therefore it is the high time to bring them back by providing gas to the domestic industry.

For more information, contact:
Shahid Khalil
Information Department
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)
11-Shahrah-e-Aiwan-e-Tijarat,
Lahore -54000, Pakistan
Tel: +9242 111 222 499
Fax: +92 42 636 8854