Govt increased import duties to cut imports: Senate informed
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The Senate was informed on Friday that government has increased import duties to cut imports.
Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razzaq Dawood told the house during question hour that import substitution policy has also been launched in order to increase domestic production and exports.
He said duties on raw material will be reduced in order to support and strengthen the manufacturing sector.
He said oil import substitution is a long term policy. He said refining capacity of the country has reduced over the years, due to which value added petroleum products are also being imported. He said once the refining capacity improves, the situation could be changed.
Minister of State for Climate Change, Zartaj Gul told the House that government has embarked on a plan to replicate successful model of Billion Tree Tsunami project all over the country.
She said government has a target of planting ten billion saplings in its campaign. The Minister said provinces have been asked to prepare PC-1s to set their targets and records of planting the trees.
Zartaj Gul said Karachi, Faisalabad, Lahore and some other major cities have high rate of air pollution. She said Environmental Protection Agency is assessing the rate of pollution in these cities and taking measures to overcome it.
She said Juniper trees in Balochistan are a great asset for the province and these will be planted more under Green Pakistan program.
