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CBR urged to frame

policy on used

autoparts imports

LAHORE: The Used Autoparts Dealers Association, Punjab, on Friday demanded the Central Board of Revenue to frame proper policy for regular import of used autoparts to save millions of foreign exchange besides ensuring plying 1.5 million old vehicles on roads across the country.

Justifying the import, Mohammad Sardar, Patron, Used Autoparts Association, said that even rich countries import used autoparts to ensure savings and continued plying of functional automobiles on the roads, he added, saying a poor developing country like Pakistan cannot afford the luxury of discarding old vehicles, while local production of old autoparts is obviously untenable.

Presently genuine autoparts of 7 to 10 years old vehicles are not available in the market while imported used autoparts are easily available at comparatively much cheaper rates.

He said that this import cater the needs of 1.5 million old vehicle users across the country otherwise it could render all the decades old vehicles off the road due to non-availability of cheap used autoparts in the market. He said Pakistani dealers had been importing used autoparts from the countries like Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and England for the last 15 years and used to pay 100 percent fine besides the duty at the time of import.

Haji Mohammad Yasin, General Secretary of the association categorically ruled out the possibility of hitting the indigenous autopart industry because not even a single factory in Pakistan is engaged in manufacturing of parts of old model vehicles.

He further claimed that the import of used autoparts would help check the smuggling of those components into the country, otherwise the government will have to spend up to Rs 20 billion to meet the demand for the used components, and also lose out huge foreign exchange earnings through duties.ÑAPP