EDB targets 2/3 wheeler

The Engineering Development Board (EDB) has advised all the Provincial Secretaries (Excise & Taxation) including AJK and Federal Govt. Islamabad to provide company wise & brand wise data of 2/3 wheelers registered during 2009-10 & 2010-11, in accordance with its format.

Dr. Muhammad Zubair, General Manager (Tariff) EDB in his letter No. EDB/TBS-II/11 dated April 21, 2011 stated that OEMs of vehicles are allocated a quota of CKD kits for imports under concessionary regime for the assembly of vehicles during a year based on the production of previous year; and at the end of each fiscal year, the OEMs are required under the SRO, 656(1)12006 to submit the records of inputs used for the assembly/ production of vehicles during, preceding year.

"It has been noted that certain OEMs of 2/3 wheelers procure components from illegal sources and misreport production/ sales of 2/3 wheelers. Further, vehicles (2/3 wheelers) having the engine & chassis numbers are being registered under duplicate numbers in different cities. It has also been reported that certain unscrupulous assemblers have been found involved in getting their products registered with provincial registration authorities against invalid/ bogus manufacturing certificates, purportedly issued by EDB. This malpractice is not only affecting the genuine assemblers of 2/3 wheelers, but also defeating the regulator regime and depriving national exchequer of its legitimate share," the General Manager alleged.

He added that in order to put an end to illegal assembly/ manufacture of vehicles and consequent loss to the exchequer, EDB has established a database to maintain & reconcile the data of production & sales of 2/3 wheelers to ensure proper payment of taxes & duties chargeable thereon. To enable the Engineering Development Board to accomplish the aforesaid task of national importance & interest, assistance from the provincial registration authorities is solicited. It is accordingly requested to kindly provide the company and brand-wise data concerning the 2/3 wheelers registered during the year 2009-10 and 2010-11 (up to March 31st 2011), on the enclosed format, Dr. Zubair concluded.

Copies of this letter were also addressed to; the Member (Inland Revenue) Federal Board of Revenue, Islamabad, and Chairman, Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers' Association (PAMA), Karachi.

It may be mentioned here that various complaints regarding misuse of the EDB facilities as explained above were already on record with FIA and the Customs Department against local Car, Trucks and Tractor Assemblers but amazingly the EDB authorities had never bothered to initiate any such inquiries or called for collection of data about 4-wheelers, which smears discrimination against 2/3 Wheelers.

-Nasir Mahmood

-Published on page#-08 in June-2011 issue of MOBILE WORLD Magazine.

www.mobileworld.com.pk

Review & Restructure the AIDC

The Auto Industry Development Program (AIDP) has entered the third year of implementation. But so far it has not succeeded making any positive impact on the industry as a whole.

The Auto Industry Development Committee (AIDC) that was formed by Engineering Development Board, under directives from Ministry of Industries, Production & Special Initiatives, for effective implementation of AIDP has miserably failed to fulfill its obligations.

The AIDC had constituted Seven Sub-Committees on different components of AIDP to provide guidance/ recommendations to AIDC.

In view of the important role assigned to sub-committees, meetings of the sub-committees needed to be convened more frequently so that issues confronted to Auto Sector may be addressed more affectively. These sub-committees were supposed to meet at least once in a month or as and when needed. However, some sub-committees met just once in the last one year.

The reasons for failure of these committees as stated are; that no time frame was defined for completion of tasks as per Terms of References. Some members were chairpersons of sub-committees of AIDC and represented on other sub-committees as member as well. All Sub-Committees were to meet at least once every month but four sub-committees met only once in last seven months. Pro-active approach of chairpersons needed more but it was missing. Representation of members generally was at second tier level.

There were several approved schemes which needed consistent follow up but those were not through as yet. This included; Technology Acquisition Support Funds, for Technology Acquisition Support Scheme; Revival of Productive Assets Investment Incentive Scheme; Creation of Centre of Excellence under Auto Industry Skill Development Company (AISKDC); and Deviation from the AIDP by Government in recent budget.

This is the time to review AIDP in current international and national economic and industrial scenario and get rid of the inefficient members by restructuring the AIDC whom were failed to perform any commendable task. Instead, Govt. should invite nominations from all Chambers of Commerce & Industry and the respective Trade Bodies to recommend active and experienced people to achieve meaningful results.