PARLIAMENT

‘Luxury vehicle imports increase due to tax concessions’

Irangika RANGE, Sandasen MARASINGHE and Disna MUDALIGE

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa presided when Parliament met at 1 pm yesterday. After the presentation of papers and oral questions, the House took up the Order under the Ports and Airport Development Levy Act and Order Under the Excise (Special Provisions) Act for debate.

Dr. Sarath Amunugama: I present two orders under the Ports and Airport Development Levy Act and Order Under the the Excise (Special Provisions) Act.

The first Act is presented to exempt industrial samples from the Ports and Airports Development Levy. Those are exempted even from valued added taxes such as VAT and the Nation Building Tax.

The second Act is presented to increase the tax related to luxury motor vehicles and to increase the government revenue.

We held a special discussion in this regard even with the President.

Accordingly it was agreed that these samples should be exempted from Ports and Airport Development Levy as an encouragement to the industrial sector.

This relief has been provided only for samples valued at less than Rs 25,000.

The second gazette notification was much debated in the House at previous occasions as well. It was seen that as a result of the tax concession on hybrid vehicles, the import of luxury motor vehicles too have increased rapidly.

This was a deprivation of government revenue.

To rectify this situation, this gazette notification was issued and we request the approval of the House on it.

John Amaratunga (UNP): There are many shortcomings in the Colombo Harbour. The government must pay attention to rectify these problems, while developing the Southern harbour. Though the Hambantota Port had been already opened, no ships were reported to have arrived at the port.

The government spent a huge amount of money to construct the Hambantota harbour, but nothing beneficial had happened to the country. The facilities in the Colombo harbour are not sufficient to cater to the needs of ships arriving at the harbour. Ships carrying containers are unable to arrive at the harbour today due to lack of facilities.

The Colombo harbour had not been modernized to meet modern day requirements of container operations and cargo handling. The terminal operations at the Colombo harbour are very inferior in quality, compared to the terminal operations taking place in major harbours in the Asian region.

This has resulted in the decrease in import and export trade activities of the country. Ports are named as the heart of the country’s economy. It would directly affect the import and export trade. Therefore, the government must take urgent measures to solve the problems in the harbour.

S Sritharan (TNA): People in the North and East are suffering due to a threat called the ‘Grease Devil’. Tamils are unable to walk freely in their villages today.

Activities of the Grease Devil have spread through the North and East and the people are living in fear. Already 18 females have been admitted to hospitals due to serious injuries. We have evidence to prove these incidents.

It is the responsibility of the Police and Armed Forces to arrest the culprits and take them into custody. Tamils must be allowed to live in peace. They must be given their rights. The Grease Devils are a horror to Tamils. The government must provide urgent solutions to these problems.

The House was adjourned until 1 pm today.

‘Unrest in Middle East, affecting SL tea industry’

Plantation Industries Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, yesterday stated that Sri Lanka’s tea industry had been affected by the unrest in the Middle East with a drop in tea exports.

The minister was responding to a question raised by UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake.

The minister further stated that Libya and Syria, two leading buyers of Sri Lankan tea have been affected by the unrest.

He added that Iran who is another major buyer of Sri Lankan tea, is also suffering due to economic sanctions imposed by the West.

The minister also stated that the prices of Sri Lankan tea had remained unchanged, but the Middle East unrest is affecting the tea industry in the Country.

Alleged import of inferior petrol:

‘ Steps will be taken to implement recommendations of report’

Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha yesterday stated that steps would be taken to implement the recommendations of the report on the alleged import of inferior quality petrol immediately after the report was submitted to the ministry.

He made this observation in response to a question raised by UNP Kurunegala District MP Dayasiri Jayasekera.

The minister further said that the ministry had received about 2,000 complaints concerning the low quality petrol.

He said the ministry had acknowledge the letters.

He also stated that all those complaints have been computerized and categorized.

The minister further stated that parts of the damaged petrol pumps have been brought and are being repaired.

Lack of members in House:

Business of Parliament confined to only two hours

Business in Parliament yesterday was confined only to two hours as there were insufficient members in the House to join the debate.

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa called names of few members to join the debate while the order under the Ports and Airport Development Levy Act and Order Under Excise (Special Provision) Act were being taken up in the House. But those members were not present in the House.

The Speaker at this stage stated that the members have to be present in the House when their names were called to join the debate.

The Speaker also instructed the Chief Government Whip Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to reply to the speech.

After his short reply, the orders were passed.

The House was adjourned until 1 pm today.

Later on, the House took up the adjournment motion which was to be moved by Puttalam District MP Arundika Fernando.

As he too was not present in the House, Parliament adjourned.