ABAD seeking to form ‘Sindh Business Forum’

According to Business Recorder, the Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) is leading efforts to create a Sindh Business Forum, a lobbying body uniting heads of business associations across the province. The group plans to press provincial authorities on five issues: crumbling infrastructure, land mafias, merit-based hiring, government digitalisation and water shortages. The proposal was announced by outgoing chairman Muhammad Hassan Bakshi.

Bakshi listed gains from his two-year tenure, including the revival of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Housing and a resolution on completion certificates for grey structures. Tax relief included scrapping Section 7E, halving tax under Section 236C, and exempting builders who had paid under Section 7F from that same Section 236C charge. He also said ABAD helped secure Interpol Red Warrants against land grabbers Wasiullah Lakho, Jamil Changa and Samad Kathiawari, and that Roshan Digital Account parameters were widened so resident Pakistanis can bring foreign assets home.

Bakshi said developers can now obtain project financing of up to Rs10 billion at 5 percent if they maintain an escrow account. He added that ABAD hopes its shares will reach the stock exchange through REITs within three to six months. Patron-in-Chief Mohsin Sheikhani criticised the governance system at the event, saying the Sindh chief minister is constrained by it, and made a veiled reference to Bahria Town.