Islamabad: The Ministry of Maritime Affairs Secretary Rizwan Ahmad on Wednesday informed the Senate Standing Committee on Finance that the original Gwadar Port agreement mandated a 20-year tax holiday instead of 40 years for port operators and their contractors — a news source reported. He further said that there was no provision for providing tax concessions to sub-contractors in the original agreement.
The senate body had summoned the secretary to produce the original Gwadar port concession agreement. The body was informed of the FBR’s proposal for a 40-year tax holiday for Gwadar Port operators, its contractors, and sub-contractors as per the recommendations of the maritime affairs ministry.
Chairman of the Senate’s Standing Committee Farooq H Naek instructed the secretary to produce the original document before the senate on Thursday. The original agreement had been signed between Pakistan and a Singaporean company, which had handed over the project to a Chinese company through another agreement in 2013. The secretary has been instructed to produce this latter as well.
