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Awami Tractor Scheme

ECC may refund Rs 53m to over 800 applicants

AMER SIAL

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet is likely to decide on Tuesday about the refunding of Rs 53 million to over 800 applicants, who had applied for getting a tractor through the Awami Tractor Scheme launched in 1996.

Official sources in the Cabinet division told Business Recorder here on Monday that 1,600 candidates applied for a tractor through this scheme by paying Rs 70,000 half of them were lucky to get a tractor while the case of rest was withheld due to the civil suit filed by the local vendors against the duty-free imports.

They said that Food and Agriculture Ministry (Minfal) has moved a summary in this regard stressing the auction of 180-imported tractors from Poland in 1996 to refund to the affected persons. Those tractors are braving weather at the Karachi Port Trust for the last four years due to litigation between the imports and local vendors.

Minfal has suggested exemption of import duties and KPT charges for the disposition of stuckup tractors at the port. Already their market price has decreased by Rs 60,000- Rs 70,000 and any further delay would hamper their auctioning at suitable rates. The ECC would decide about the matter after considering the view of communication ministry on the KPT storage charges.

Official sources said that initially the cost of imported tractors was fixed at Rs 234,000 but the government decided to impose 18 percent sales tax on the tractors and the new price was fixed at Rs 334,000. But now due to duties and the KPT charges their cost has escalated to nearly Rs 1.1 million while their market price is not more than Rs 280,000 as those have faced weather for four years and the applicants are not interested in paying for the old tractors.

After the success of the Awami Tractor Scheme the government of the day decided to launch the second phase of the scheme and allowed duty-free import of 2,700 tractors. Approximately 1,600 applicants applied for a tractor through the scheme by paying Rs 70,000 as advance, nearly 500 tractors were given to the applicants.

Delivery to the rest of the tractors had to be stopped, as the local vendors had filed a suit against the duty-free imports, pleading that duty-free imports have made their products incompetitive in the market. The court ordered halting of tractor imports till further orders and 180 tractors arriving after the issuance of order got stuck at the KPT.

After the decision of the case the importer wanted to hand over the tractors to the applicants but he had to enter into another legal battle with the KPT over the issue of charges for the parked tractors. But the legal battle got lengthier as one of the two parties objected over the jurisdiction of the court from where the importer got a decision in his favour.