ISLAMABAD:Coordinator to Federal Tax Ombudsman Meher Kashif Younis on Thursday urged the need for providing special incentives to local construction industry, which was currently over burdened due to increasing inflation and soaring prices of construction material.
Talking to a delegation of builders and developers led by Afaq Shoukat Mokal Kasuri, he said that development of construction industry was prerequisite for achieving sustainable economic growth and survival of the industry in the country.
He said that during fiscal year 2021,the construction sector has contributed to Rs1,231 billion and next year it has gone upto Rs1,409 billion, adding that by the start of current fiscal year there was a significant growth of about 7 percent year on year basis.
Besides, the construction sector absorbs about 7.61 percent of the total labour force and its pertinent that being 5th most populous country in the world,the total strength of the labour force is around 69 million, he observed.
He said more demand for houses and allied infrastructure were emerging in the wake of growing population at the rate 2.4 percent and new mega projects under CPEC which needed special attention of government to help construction industry to cope with task of timely completion of projects.
He said the growth of Pakistan’s construction industry was well in line with the global industry that is expected to reach US$15.2 trillion in 2022 that’s ahead of the last number of US$23.6 trillion.
Meher said construction Industry plays a major role in contributing to gross domestic profit which was likely to touch the figure of 14.08 percent in current fiscal year from 14.3 percent last year.
He said construction industry a fast growing sector in Pakistan urgently needs full support from government to reap result oriented fruits from the future mega projects.
The digital transformation in construction was picking up and will play a critical role in solving sustainability and other persistent challenges in the industry, he said adding that this Industry was implementing technology piece-meal,forward thinking focus were embracing connected construction.
Meher Kashif Younis urged the government to give concessions on imports of ultra modern construction machineries for early execution of mega projects, besides special relief in local taxation and exemption to boost this industry.