FPCCI HAS LOST ITS STATUS AS THE APEX BODY OF TRADE

ISLAMABAD, Dec 28 (Online): Tariq Haleem past Vice President FPCCI and present Chairman UBG Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs, Communications and Gwadar Development said :

Presently Pakistan is standing at cross roads and under great financial pressure due to various reasons which also includes past mistakes and the impact of COVID on the economies of all the countries of the world including our great country Pakistan.

Inflation is in double digits (11.5 percent).

Balance of trade deficit as of November 2021 was USD 20.75 Billion.

1.00 U.S. Dollar = Rs. 178.50

Consumer price index has reached all time high in November, 2021 : 158.18 points.

Furthermore one of the major reasons for above problems in the country is also that the Business Men Panel (BMP) sitting in power in the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) is unable to play its role in coordinating with the government / suggesting ways and means to improve the economy up to implementation of suggestions on behalf of the Business Community of Pakistan.

How can BMP protect the interests of the Business Community when they are busy in planning illegal ways to stay in power?

We would like to mention a few projects that we have worked on and are still working on (despite being out of power for the last 2 years in FPCCI), UBG always thinks out of the box.

1. Water Management, Floods, Transport & Aquatic Tourism Report :

When I was the Vice President at FPCCI during 2018 we supported and published (in collaboration with Commander Naeem Sarfraz) a very comprehensive report which also provide solutions. This report was widely circulated by us in the business circles and the corridors of power including the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

After great efforts Ministry of Maritime Affairs has picked up responsibility for Inland Transport and engaged with World Bank who have now issued a report which supports our contentions.

We are regularly chasing up this issue and are now also requesting the Federal Minister of Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi to urgently form a Waterways Development Authority so that inland water management etc can be properly addressed and operations on the ground can commence at the very earliest.

PAKISTAN HAS NO SHORTAGE OF WATER WHATSOEVER. WE HAVE SUFFICIENT WATER FOR THE NEXT ABOUT 100 YEARS.

Pakistan receives about 140 – 145 million acres feet (MAF) of water per year. Out of this about 20 MAF goes into the sea and about 40 MAF is lost due to mismanagement in the inland waterways, canals etc.

The need of the hour is to develop inland waterways for transport of goods which will result in multiple benefits for the country including but not limited to water management, flood control, better output from the agriculture sector, aquatic tourism, creation of thousands of jobs etc., etc. if this is implemented hand in hand with improvements in rail transport, this will Inshaallah turn around the economy of Pakistan.

2. Transshipment / Transit Cargoes :

We have already submitted concept paper to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs on “Transshipment / Transit Zone and Stock & Sale Zone”. We believe that serous working is taking place on our suggestions and if our suggestions are properly adopted then we will Inshaallah also have extra cargoes moving from CIS States through initially from Karachi Port Trust and subsequently from Gwadar Port.

We are confident that further roughly about 20 to 30 billion dollars worth of trade will pass through Pakistan by road, rail and sea.

This would mean roughly about 2 million plus containers (TUES) moving through our sea ports both in and out.

Presently 3.2 million TEUS both Export & Import are moving through KPT & PQA.

This will also prove to be a tremendous growth to our economy, create jobs and ports, terminals both on dock and off dock will also benefit.

At present containers freight rates are very high but if container volumes increase substantially then freight taxes will come down.

We will be holding a conference very soon with stakeholders.

3. Gwadar Port :

When I was Vice President FPCCI I signed an MOU with China Overseas Ports Holding Company (COPHC) the concession holders of Gwadar Port and we also got an office in their new building for FPCCI free of cost.

UBG has started working on Transshipment cargoes to Afghanistan via Gwadar Port. At this time we are the only group who is moving Transshipment of fertilizer cargoes in ship loads at Gwadar Port. We are working on other cargoes also and we expect that in the next 2 to 3 years Gwadar Port will be flying.

We must remember if “CPEC is the Crown then Gwadar is the Jewel in the Crown”.

Once Gwadar Port is properly operational due to Inshaallah mostly UBG efforts then there will also be major job openings not only for locals but for all Pakistanis.

4. Soyabean Seeds :

Soyabean seed vessel MV. Hercules was discharging soyabean seeds at KPT on 15th February, 2020 when suddenly allegations were made that poisonous gas was coming out from the ship. Discharging was stopped. FIR’s were cut against stevedores etc. I on behalf of UBG immediately intervened and we put together a few members from KPT Labor Union, also our staff and investigated this matter. We found that there was no poisonous gas from the ship. Apparently this poisonous gas came from under the ground from garbage dumping areas, these poisonous gasses are called landfill gasses. In fact we located the area which was in proximity to RG Railway Colony, Bhutta Village, Jungle Shah from where the poisonous gas was coming out from the ground. If UBG had not taken these steps immediately then most probably seed vessels would not be able to call at Karachi Port. Seed cargo ships would have only one option FAP Terminal at Port Qasim which would result in bunching of ships and huge demurrages would be incurred.

UBG is working on many other projects for the business community and our great country Pakistan.

Tariq Haleem said if voters support us and UBG comes back into power we will make sure that the lost glory of FPCCI is regained and we will Inshaallah be playing a major role with the government to improve the financial situation of our great country Pakistan.