Ambassador of EU, Denis Chaibi and Chairman, CMTA, Charaka Perera
The Ceylon Motor Traders Association (CMTA) hailed the move by the government extraordinary gazette notification relaxing restrictions on importing motor vehicles for public transport including buses, lorries, tankers/bowsers and trucks.
Chairman, CMTA, Charaka Perera at a press event in Colombo yesterday said that this is a very good step that was taken to strengthen the public transport and many other sectors. He also said the move by the Minister of Transport Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana to import electric buses to strengthen the public transport sector was a step taken in the right direction.
He also said that the government must also consider the removal of the import ban on personal vehicles as it only accounts to around 4.9% of Sri Lanka’s total import bill. “During the period where imports were allowed the motor car importers paid the highest amount of duty to the government which was around Rs. 130 billion. “This is nearly 7%of the total government tax revenue.”
“The CMTA recently proposed to lift the vehicle import suspension with an increased additional import duty of 130% and this to be reduced by 15% every quarter. Under this scheme, we believe the whole industry would require less than USD 400 million for the first year, as it is self regulating.”
Ambassador of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Denis Chaibi said that the globe mobility/transport trends are rapidly changing in Europe and the young generation’s priority is not purchasing vehicles unlike 20 years ago. The older generation’s first priority from their salary was to buy a vehicle.
“However today the European youth prefer to use public transport and either take ‘paid taxi’ or walk the last mile.” Due to these novel trends, governments in Paris, Madrid and Brussels have taken several steps like making car parks, small and high parking fees to discourage drivers from entering their cities. “However the government is yet to provide a solution for senior citizens who still prefer driving to public transport.”
Commenting on the motor vehicle sales he said there is rapid demand from EV vehicles and those factories/companies who do not produce them are finding it hard to survive in EU markets. “This has happened to Toyota and Volkswagen.”
In contrast Tesla EV vehicles sales are surging and Chinese manufactured BYD Auto EV cars too will soon invade the global market. He also said that Sri Lanka should look at electrifying the Tuk Tuk segment and set up a suitable environment for it.
Shirajiv Sirimane