After a lot of effort by Chairman PITB, Umar Saif and his conversation with authorities, now finally Punjab government has said that ride-hailing services are not suspended and that the matter will be resolved with-in next 15 days.
Chairman of the Punjab IT board Umar Saif said to a news source,
Uber and Careem currently do not pay tax in Pakistan, Punjab government is tackling the issue with an “innovative business model”.
Are these ride-hailing apps Uber, Careem and A-One are illegal? This is what the government of Punjab has declared yesterday.
Under the title of “Illegal Operations of private cars as taxi under the umbrella of Careem, Uber and A-One cab service in Lahore” a notice was issued by Punjab Provincial Transport Authority to the Chief Traffic Officer, Lahore, and CEO Lahore Transport Company.
Today after government lift the ban, Chairman of Punjab IT Board Umair Saif said;
“We are coming up with a formal policy. This letter was an internal memo and has prematurely been made public.”
He further said to a news source;
“We don’t want to treat them as a taxi service, But they need to be regulated and taxed. They must register as a formal business under a new taxation regime.”
Uber started its operation in Pakistan in 2016. Uber is US-based transportation company that expanded its services to other parts of Pakistan. Since then it has provided its best services like Uber cab and Uber Auto. The rides are booked by mobile apps.
Careem is another ride-hailing service that is a UAE-based service along taxi services that offers Tezz Rickshaw Service in Pakistan.
Last year in November, Bank of Punjab and Uber signed MoU, which aimed to bring over 50,000 green cab and yellow cab customers on Uber platform. Government of Punjab has also been in deal with Uber for Apna Rozgar Scheme.
Junaid Iqbal the MD of Careem went live on Facebook and there he said,
“We are in talks with Government about the issue. No specific regulations have been formed yet about ride-hailing, which is a new kind of technology. Many countries are amending and introducing new guidelines for ride-hailing like in India, Saudi Arabia etc.”
Punjab govt said that they want to bring ride-hailing services in tax net.