FPCCI Demands Reopening Of Restaurants, Marriage Halls

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Jul, 2020 ) :Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Sunday demanded the government allow reopening of restaurants at the earliest with minimum 50 per cent seating capacity under the standard operating procedures (SOPs), set by the government.

In a meeting with Provincial Minister for Industries, Commerce & Investment Mian Aslam Iqbal, along with a delegation of the restaurants and marriage halls owners here, FPCCI President Mian Anjum Nisar urged the authorities concerned to announce a date for reopening of the eateries. He said the government had assured the restaurant owners several times of reopening their businesses. He said that countrywide lockdown in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic had officially been lifted for a long time, as gyms, salons, shopping malls, markets and almost every business had been allowed to reopen except for restaurants, which is not fair.

The restaurants owners said on the occasion that during the lockdown they were constantly taking up the issue of reopening of restaurants with the high-ups, requesting them to look after the industry, which is suffering a lot.

They said that the authorities' response was apparently quite encouraging, and even the provincial cabinet committee decided several times to allow restaurants to reopen, but the decision had yet to be implemented.

Mian Anjum Nisar recommended that the rent of restaurants established at government owned properties and parks should be waived off at 50 per cent. He said that during the closure period, restaurants had incurred operational expenditure without any revenue from their own resources including payroll, salaries, utility bills, rentals etc. Therefore, financial assistance package was required for restaurants by way of working capital facility of up to Rs 10 million as soft loan without markup.

He asked the provincial minister to recommend Federal government that a similar package should be given to restaurants as given to small industries and commercial shops where three months for loads up to 70 kilowatts be waived off.