N A Standing Committee on Ports and Shipping appreciates govt

Lahore : 30^th meeting of the Standing Committee on Ports and Shipping was held at Committee Room No. 07, Parliament House, Islamabad at 02:00 p.m today, under the Chairmanship of Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, MNA. The agenda of the meeting was as under:- 

1.   Confirmation of minutes of previous meetings.
2. Briefing by Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) as how the organization have benefited from duty/tax exemptions given by the Federal Government and also an update on their future plans.

2. The Standing Committee appreciated the fact that the Government taking into consideration the precarious situation of the Shipping Industry; the 27% cumulative effect of custom duties and sales tax together which was imposed on the ship acquisition from financial year 2011 to 2014 has completely been waived off till 2020. The Committee recommended that to give a proper boost to the Shipping Industry, the custom duty and sales tax waiver should be extended for twenty to twenty-five years. The Minister for Ports & Shipping, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo assured the Committee that the ministry will fully support the PNSC to buy shipping vessels as the time is right due to the low cost of oil. The Minister also informed that work is in progress regarding ferry service to different neighbouring countries and they would be encouraging the entrepreneur from private sector to invest in this sector.

3. The meeting was attended by the Members (MNAs) namely, Haji Muhammad Akram Ansari, Ch. Hamid Hameed, Syed Ayaz Ali Shah Sherazi, Ms. Shaheen Shafiq, Ms. Romina Khurshid Alam, Khalil George, Mir Aamir Ali Khan Magsi, Lal chand Malhi, Ch. Tariq Bashir Cheema, Muhammad Jamal ud Din, Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar, Secretary, M/o Ports & Shipping, Chairman PNSC, Secretary PNSC and other senior officers from the ministry attended the meeting.