table align=center" cellpadding=0" cellspacing=0" width=96%"
tbody
PM praises auto industry as sales drop, prices soar
Thursday, May 14, 2009
By Faryal Najeeb
On one side we have reports of car sales declining by 49 percent as prices of automobiles continue to soar pointlessly and on the other, the Prime Minister of Pakistan expresses that he was delighted to know that Pakistan automobile industry was gearing up to meet customers’ demands despite tough economic conditions worldwide.
Yousuf Raza Gilani was in Karachi on Saturday evening where addressing the business community he stated that the automobile industry was pivotal for the development of economy and therefore the government would provide all possible support for further development of the auto industry.
The PM was also elated to know that the country would now be exporting CNG buses to the Middle East and Africa which he said would help enhance the automobile industry further towards improvement.
This was stated whilst the quality of our local transport services continues to dwindle and commuters on the local buses continue to suffer silently on the dangerously dilapidated buses and coaches that are currently on the roads.
Chairman of All Pakistan Motor Car Dealers, H M Shahzad was scathing in his comments over the Prime Minister's remarks. He said that the government was fully aware of the monopoly car assemblers had in the country as they had a clandestine agreement with each other to drive out used car dealers from the market.
He held that since the ban of used cars into the country, the automobile sector had been falling apart. “The values of cars have sky rocketed, sales continue to decline and yet the government remains a silent watcher. Why doesn’t the government intervene and put a limit to the rising prices,” he points out.
A used car dealer, wishing to remain anonymous, believes that the PM was not fully briefed on auto sector issues. He voiced that the automobile industry did not only include the assemblers of new cars but also the other allied sectors associated with it including used cars.
The dealer who claimed to be almost out of business due to the hold that local car assemblers had in the market, also articulated that the quality of new cars had also declined considerably.
“There is no check and balance in this country. All over the world car prices are not only declining but instead sales are also encouraged with special offers,” he further continued. “Being associated with the car industry myself, I don’t see any special features in the local cars that would justify their extremely high prices,” he added.
Moving on, the same address of the PM also highlighted the urgent need to curb deteriorating law and order of Pakistan and the issues pertaining to power crises. Gilani assured the business community, “in less than a year, our economic problems will be taken care of.”
A news report also stated the PM as saying that the government is giving top priority to the law and order situation in Pakistan and a very cordial and friendly environment will be provided to the industrialists and the business community for they want the nation to prosper.
Promises have been made by the existing government gallantly over several months now and yet a year forward, the people of Pakistan including the business community continue to wait for these promises to be fulfilled.
/tbody
/table"
106803,
hello e v body
</p