By M Qadeer
LAHORE: Business facilitation and stronger institutional coordination with federal, provincial and local authorities should be among the top priorities of the next Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry leadership, says LCCI presidential candidate Ali Hussam Asghar, who believes the chamber must become a more effective problem-solving platform for Lahore’s traders and industrialists.
Asghar, chairman of the Pioneer Businessman Group and a candidate of the Vision Alliance, said Lahore’s business community needs an institution capable of understanding day-to-day commercial and industrial challenges, communicating them effectively to policymakers and maintaining sustained follow-up with the relevant authorities.
He said businesses contribute to investment, employment, production, exports and government revenue, but their ability to expand depends heavily on the environment in which they operate.
According to Asghar, electricity and other input costs, taxation and compliance requirements, infrastructure deficiencies, access to finance, regulatory procedures and interaction with multiple government departments collectively influence the cost and ease of doing business.
He maintained that LCCI cannot independently resolve every issue because many matters fall within the legal jurisdiction of federal, provincial or local authorities. However, the chamber can strengthen its role by documenting members’ legitimate concerns, developing practical recommendations and pursuing them systematically with the institutions empowered to act.
Facilitation must go beyond slogans
Asghar said ease of doing business is frequently discussed at policy forums, but its real test is the experience of an entrepreneur trying to operate a lawful business.
For a trader, ease of doing business may mean understandable procedures, accessible markets and efficient interaction with relevant authorities. For an industrialist, it may involve energy costs, infrastructure, transportation, regulatory predictability and the ability to plan investment.
An exporter may have different concerns involving competitiveness, logistics, documentation and international market access.
Asghar said LCCI must recognise these differences and build a facilitation structure capable of responding to the requirements of different sectors.
He maintained that businesses should be able to approach their chamber when they face genuine institutional or procedural difficulties and receive guidance about the appropriate way forward.
The purpose, he said, should be to resolve legitimate issues through lawful and constructive engagement rather than confrontation.
Stronger coordination with government
Asghar said effective government-business coordination could prevent many problems from escalating.
He favours regular interaction between LCCI and relevant departments instead of waiting for disputes or policy changes to create difficulties before dialogue begins.
According to him, consultation gives businesses an opportunity to explain the practical consequences of proposed measures while allowing public authorities to communicate their regulatory and policy objectives.
Asghar said government and business should not be viewed as permanent opponents.
The private sector needs effective government for infrastructure, law, regulation and economic stability, while the government needs successful businesses to generate employment, investment, exports and revenue.
He said the challenge for LCCI was to maintain constructive relationships with government institutions while retaining the ability to firmly and respectfully represent the legitimate interests of its members.
Business facilitation mechanism proposed
Asghar believes LCCI should strengthen its internal mechanism for receiving and following up on members’ concerns.
When a member approaches the chamber with a business-related problem involving a public authority, he said, the issue should first be properly documented and understood.
Where appropriate, the chamber could then identify the competent authority, communicate the matter through institutional channels and monitor progress.
Such a system, according to Asghar, would also help distinguish individual disputes from broader policy issues affecting an entire sector or market.
If numerous businesses report similar difficulties, LCCI could study the matter and determine whether a policy recommendation or wider institutional intervention was warranted.
He said this approach would make business representation more organised and evidence-based.
Regulatory issues require balance
Asghar said businesses recognise the importance of laws and legitimate regulatory enforcement, but they also require transparency, clarity and predictability.
Where traders or industrialists raise concerns about regulatory procedures or enforcement practices, he said, those concerns should be considered on their facts and addressed through appropriate institutional and legal channels.
LCCI’s responsibility, according to Asghar, should not be to interfere with the lawful functions of public institutions or seek exemptions from legitimate obligations.
Instead, the chamber should facilitate communication, help members understand requirements and raise genuine concerns with the competent authorities where necessary.
He maintained that better communication between regulators and businesses could improve compliance while reducing misunderstandings and unnecessary disputes.
Multiple procedures increase business costs
Asghar said the cost of doing business was not limited to electricity bills, interest rates or taxation.
The amount of management time required to navigate procedures and comply with administrative requirements also carries an economic cost.
For smaller businesses in particular, dealing with multiple institutions can consume resources that might otherwise be devoted to customers, production, investment or expansion.
Asghar called for greater simplification and coordination wherever legally and administratively feasible.
He said businesses should clearly understand their responsibilities, deadlines and compliance requirements.
Greater digitalisation and coordination between institutions could also potentially reduce duplication and improve efficiency, he maintained.
Taxation needs predictability
Discussing taxation, Asghar said businesses understood their obligation to pay taxes imposed under the law and contribute towards national development.
His concern, he said, was ensuring that the taxation environment remained conducive to economic activity and investment.
He called for simpler procedures, greater predictability and meaningful consultation with stakeholders.
Asghar maintained that a growing economy and broader tax base were ultimately in the interests of both government and businesses.
He said policymakers should consider the cumulative impact of taxes, fees and compliance requirements when evaluating the competitiveness of different sectors.
LCCI, he added, could contribute by collecting feedback from its members and presenting evidence-based recommendations to the relevant authorities.
SMEs need accessible chamber
Asghar said small and medium enterprises would be a particular focus of his proposed business facilitation agenda.
Smaller businesses may not have dedicated legal, taxation, regulatory or government-relations departments. In many cases, the owner personally handles these matters while simultaneously managing the business.
This makes accessibility particularly important.
Asghar said SMEs should be able to approach LCCI for guidance and information without feeling that the institution exists primarily for larger businesses.
He also favoured stronger support for SMEs in accessing finance, technology, skills, digital opportunities and domestic and international markets.
A small enterprise that receives the right support today could become a significant employer or exporter in the future, he maintained.
Markets require practical solutions
Asghar said business facilitation should also address the physical environment in which businesses operate.
Lahore’s commercial areas face varying challenges involving parking, traffic congestion, accessibility, loading and unloading of goods and municipal infrastructure.
He said these matters could directly affect commercial activity and should therefore form part of LCCI’s economic agenda.
Rather than proposing identical solutions for every market, Asghar favoured a market-by-market approach involving consultation with traders and the relevant public authorities.
Where technically and financially feasible, measures such as improved parking arrangements, better traffic management and designated facilities for commercial activity could be explored.
The chamber’s role, he said, would be to bring stakeholders together and ensure that the business perspective was properly represented.
Industrial areas need coordinated attention
Lahore’s industrial areas present a different set of challenges.
Asghar said manufacturers need reliable energy, efficient transportation, adequate infrastructure, predictable regulations and an environment that encourages investment.
He proposed that LCCI compile industrial-area-specific issues and pursue them systematically with the departments responsible.
He maintained that discussing industrial problems only in general terms made sustained follow-up difficult.
Identifying specific problems, the authority responsible and the proposed solution could make advocacy more effective.
Facilitation linked with exports
Asghar said improving the domestic business environment was also essential for Pakistan’s export ambitions.
Lahore has substantial entrepreneurial and industrial capacity, but businesses seeking international customers must compete with companies operating in other countries.
If domestic production and administrative costs become unnecessarily high, he said, Pakistani companies can find it more difficult to compete on price while maintaining quality.
LCCI should therefore connect its export-promotion efforts with its domestic business-facilitation agenda.
The chamber can help businesses identify overseas opportunities, establish international contacts and understand foreign market requirements, while simultaneously advocating improvements in the domestic conditions affecting competitiveness.
Research should strengthen advocacy
Asghar also wants LCCI to make greater use of research and business data when engaging policymakers.
Rather than relying solely on general complaints, he said the chamber should be capable of demonstrating how particular policies affect sectors, investment, employment and competitiveness.
Sector-specific consultations could identify the problems faced by manufacturers, traders, exporters and SMEs and help LCCI develop practical recommendations.
Evidence-based advocacy, he maintained, could also strengthen the credibility of the chamber’s interaction with government institutions.
Follow-up should determine performance
Asghar said raising an issue was only the beginning of effective representation.
The real challenge was sustained follow-up.
He believes LCCI members should be able to see what issues their chamber has taken up, which authorities have been approached and whether meaningful progress has been achieved.
Not every demand of the business community can necessarily be accepted by government, he acknowledged, and some matters may involve wider fiscal, legal or public-interest considerations.
However, he said members were entitled to expect their legitimate concerns to be professionally presented and seriously pursued.
That, according to Asghar, is the distinction between ceremonial representation and effective institutional advocacy.
Chamber should be judged by results
With the LCCI elections scheduled for September 23 and 24, Asghar is positioning business facilitation and institutional effectiveness at the centre of his campaign.
His broader economic agenda includes reducing unnecessary business costs, improving market and industrial infrastructure, supporting SMEs, strengthening exports, encouraging innovation and promoting better coordination between government and the private sector.
Asghar said Lahore already possesses many of the ingredients required for stronger economic growth: entrepreneurs, established markets, manufacturing capacity, skilled people and a large consumer base.
The task, he maintained, is to create an environment in which those strengths can translate into greater investment, employment, production and exports.
For him, that requires an LCCI that remains accessible to members, understands problems at the ground level and communicates effectively with decision-makers.
The chamber should neither promise powers it does not possess nor remain silent when legitimate business concerns require representation, he maintained.
Instead, Asghar wants LCCI to function as a professional bridge between entrepreneurs and government — supporting compliance with the law, encouraging dialogue, proposing reforms and persistently pursuing measures that can make legitimate business easier and more competitive.
Ultimately, he said, the effectiveness of the next LCCI leadership should be judged not by the volume of its statements but by whether Lahore’s traders and industrialists feel better represented and whether the chamber contributes meaningfully towards improving the environment in which they do business.