Sazgar Engineering Works to set up car assembly plant

One of Pakistan’s biggest auto rickshaw makers Sazgar has decided to set up car assembly plant in the country by June 2019 under Greenfield project. The company said it would spend PKR 1.76 billion on its new assembly plant. According to the notice sent to Pakistan Stock Exchange by the company, the project will have a capacity to produce around 24,000 units annually. It has already joined hands with a Chinese automaker for the assembling, production and after-sale services of its vehicles; however, the name of Chinese collaborator has not been revealed yet. It may be worth mentioning here that the company has halted the expansion of its auto rickshaw production to complete car assembly plant promptly.

Also Read: United Motors launching two new cars in Pakistan

Sazgar Engineering Works is in talks with regulatory authorities to get approval for the establishment of its assembly plant. Furthermore, the share price of the company has also increased and is now stagnant at PKR Rs191.19.

Before going further, it would be great to enlighten you guys regarding Greenfield status and its incentives.

Greenfield Status:

Greenfield Investment/Status is defined as the installation of new and independent automotive assembly and manufacturing facilities by an investor for the production of vehicles of a make not already being assembled/manufactured in Pakistan.

Incentives:

• Duty-free import of plant and machinery for setting up the assembly and/or manufacturing facility on a one-time basis
• Import of 100 vehicles of the same variant in CBU form at 50 percent of the prevailing duty for test marketing after groundbreaking of the project
• Concessional rate of customs duty @ 10 percent on non- localized parts and @ 25 percent on localized parts for five years for the manufacturing of Cars and LCVs.
• Import of all parts (both localized and non-localised) at prevailing customs duty applicable to non-localised parts for manufacturing of trucks, buses and prime movers for a period of three years.

Government’s auto policy 2016-21 is surely bearing fruits now as not only Sazgar but many local and foreign automakers have started to invest in Pakistan such as Hyundai, Renault, DFSK-Road Prince and United Autos. The policy is diversifying the local automobile industry.

Moving onward, Sazgar has also been exporting auto rickshaws to Japan for quite some time now; making Pakistani built rickshaws known internationally.

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