HYDERABAD-Hyderabad Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industry (HCSTSI) President Muhammad Farooq Shaikhani has appreciated the initiative of the Balochistan government declaring Gwadar district as a tax-free zone with no tax imposition on services, excise duty and transfer of property.
In a statement on Monday, he demanded the federal government to also declare Gwadar district as tax-free by providing the status of a “Special Economic District” so that Gwadar, which is one of the deepest ports in the world, can be fully developed and attract the attention of domestic and foreign investors.
Shaikhani said that Dubai’s DP World Port, which is one of the largest operators of global ports and provides employment to more than 0.1 million people, had reached an annual revenue of 62.9 billion Dirhams, as well as Singapore Port 4.7 billion annually. “Singapore earns up to $100 million in revenue and these two ports have made Dubai and Singapore one of the world’s best and most well-equipped ports,” he added.
He said the greatest importance of the Gwadar port in Pakistan was that the water on the part of the sea where it is located is warm, which is characteristic of very few ports in the world.
“There is no difficulty in carrying trade and goods by sea, as trade ships continue to move throughout the year, on the contrary, it is difficult to trade through ports located on cold water, but in different seasons, it becomes impossible,” he said and added that Pakistan possessed an important geo-strategic position than any other country in the region due to Gwadar Port.
The HCSTSI president termed the CPEC as a game changer for Pakistan, adding that the country had the opportunity to use the Gwadar Port properly under CPEC without wasting any time and transits the trade between the states of South, West and Central Asian countries as well as the construction of oil and gas pipelines, and commercial and industrial facilities.
Besides China and Pakistan, he said the CPEC could bring a new era of economic and industrial development in many countries of the region, including Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Qatar.