Pakistani superfan travels 890 miles to catch Saudi football team live in Islamabad

KARACHI: One of Pakistan’s leading conglomerates is in talks with Saudi authorities on building a cricket stadium and other sports facilities in the Kingdom, the group’s chairman said on Wednesday. 

Cricket as a sport has grown popular in Saudi Arabia over the past couple of years, especially due to the Kingdom’s large population of Indian and Pakistani expatriates. 

But the game saw a real boom in popularity after the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation was established in 2020, and has since lined up a series of programs to promote the sport at home and prepare national teams to compete with the world’s best in the future.

Arif Habib, the founder and chairman of the Arif Habib Group— a leading Pakistani conglomerate in the services, real estate, and manufacturing sectors— ​said in February that Saudi officials have expressed interest in establishing a cricket stadium in the Kingdom.

“Yes, the construction of a cricket stadium in Saudi Arabia is under discussion and we had two meetings with them, including a Zoom meeting with the ambassador,” Habib told Arab News at a media interaction in Karachi. 

He said Saudi authorities would initially give the location and their plan regarding the stadium, adding that the group is also in talks for developing other sports facilities there. 

“There will be dining facilities and cinemas there for which we are in dialogue with them,” Habib said. 

He said the group offered to develop the stadium as it has constructed one in Karachi’s Naya Nazimabad area. Habib said Saudi authorities were interested in building football clubs, gyms, and family clubs in the Kingdom too. 

BUDGET AND TAXES

Pakistan’s government is expected to unveil the federal budget next week. Habib urged authorities to avoid imposing new taxes, particularly on the real estate sector. 

The Pakistani business tycoon said the real estate sector is contributing the highest tax as a percentage of the revenue among other sectors, which is 15.25 percent while power generation and distribution contributes 15.09 percent, tobacco 13.71 percent and fertilizer 13.29 percent.

“The real estate sector is the second largest employer and supports about 40 allied industries in the country,” he said. 

He advised the government to increase economic activity and improve the tax recovery system and enhance revenue to balance its revenues and expenses. 

At a separate briefing for reporters in Karachi, a senior official of Indus Motor Company, one of Pakistan’s leading automakers, called on the government to introduce policy measures to reduce the number of used cars in the country. 

“The share of used cars has increased by 28 percent in the current fiscal year, which is causing Rs45 billion in losses to the local vendors,” Ali Asghar Jamali, chief executive officer of the Indus Motor Company, told reporters. 

Jamali said automakers have proposed bringing the rate of regulatory duty (RD) and additional customs duty (ACD) for used cars at par with that of CBUs (Completely Built Units) in the federal budget. 

They have also suggested bringing the rate of depreciation allowance on income from used cars to the level of 0.5 percent. 

“Implementation of these proposals could result in a potential increase of up to Rs52 billion in the revenue from the auto sector,” Jamali noted. 

He said unrestricted imports of used cars are the “biggest obstacle” in reviving the local auto industry, which not only poses a threat to investments made in the industry but also reduces government revenues.

Jamali said the misuse of open-ended exemptions and income schemes for used cars has put the local industry in crisis. Due to regulatory leniency, the average monthly income of used cars remained at 3,068 units from July to April, resulting in a decrease of 2,633 units in the monthly sales of locally manufactured cars, he said.