NEWS: Maple Leaf Cement mulls expansion after tax perk for housing sector

KARACHI: Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd, a Pakistani maker of the construction material, is considering boosting capacity by almost a third to tap demand as the economy recovers, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.

The Lahore-based company plans to increase its capacity by about 7,000 tons a day at its current facility, the people said, asking not to be identified citing a private matter. The proposal is in final stages and the company is discussing the plan with banks and machinery suppliers, the people said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s move to offer tax cheats amnesty for investing in building homes has spurred a construction boom and is helping revive economic growth. Local sales for the building material is expected to rise 17 percent in the year ending June, the most in five years, according to Insight Securities Pvt.

The company’s shares rose 1.2 percent at the Pakistan Stock Market after jumping as much as 2.3 percent. The stock has almost doubled in the past year compared with 14 percent gain in the nation’s benchmark KSE-100 Index.

The South Asian nation is witnessing a wave of expansions in the cement industry with Lucky Cement Ltd, Kohat Cement Company, and Fauji Cement Company deciding to increase capacity, while DG Khan Cement is expected to take a final decision by the end of this month.

Maple Leaf will use internal funds to finance the expansion and won’t sell additional shares, one of the people said. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

With cement, fuel and car sales rising to levels before the pandemic, Khan’s government is targeting a growth of 2.1 percent in the current financial year, after the first contraction in 68 years in the year ended June.

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NEWS: ICCI calls for Reducing Property Tax on Auto Market Plots

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Sunday urged the government to reduce property tax on plots belonging to auto markets. The statement was made by ICCI President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan during a visit of a delegation of the Islamabad Auto Market, I-10/3, Traders Welfare Association (TWA), led by its TWA President Musharraf Janjua and TWA Secretary General Salawar Khan Afridi who had come to highlight the issues of their market for redress. The ICCI president said that property tax on auto market plots had been increased from Rs6,440 to Rs14,000 in one go. Terming it an unjustified act, he urged the government for bringing property tax down to the previous level for providing relief to auto market traders. The auto traders further complained that water charges for auto market have also been increased from Rs1,750 to Rs4100, which was a massive increase and demanded that the charges should be rationalised to make them affordable. Speaking at th...

NEWS: Construction work on five mega projects in Lahore likely to begin next month

Construction work on five mega projects in Lahore likely to begin next month LAHORE: The construction work on five mega development projects worth over Rs20.5 billion is likely to begin in the provincial capital by the end of next month, as preparations related to qualification of contractors, bidding process, award of contracts, transfer of funds etc are underway these days. The projects proposed to be launched soon included construction of a flyover at Sheranwala Gate, an underpass at Ghulab Devi Hospital and additional lanes on the Lahore Bridge (Ferozepur Road), a flyover at Shahkam Chowk, construction of five underpasses on The Mall, and resolving traffic congestion at Barkat Market (Garden Town) Y-junction. However, the Karim Market (Allama Iqbal Town) intersection flyover and an underpass project has been delayed for six months because of non-availability of funds in the ongoing fiscal year. “It has been decided in principle to launch these projects in the city, as the Lah...

NEWS: Construction, mining machinery imports reduced by 32.86pc

During the period under review, Other Appartus imports also came down by 5.20%, valuing $216,637 thousand imported as compared the imports worth $228,509 thousand of same period of last year. ISLAMABAD: Construction and Mining machinery imports, during first six months of current fiscal year, have reduced by 32.86 per cent as compared the corresponding period of the last year. According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the Construction and Mining machinery imports came down from $ 80,871 thousand in Fy 2019-20 of last financial year to US $ 54,294 thousand of the same period of current financial year. During the period of July-Dec 20 this year, imports of Textile Machinery reduced by 0.52 per cent, worth $230,911 thousand as compared the imports valuing $ 232,129 thousand of same period of last year, it added. Meanwhile, Electric Machinery and Appartus imports decreased by 46.26%, worth $640,704 thousand as compared the imports of valuing $1,192,274 thousand of the corresp...

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