PARLIAMENT

Former Chairman Hon. Anura Priyadharshana Yapa was unanimously elected to serve as the Chairman to the Committee on Public Finance held on the 08th. This was the first Committee meeting held for the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament. His name was nominated by the Hon. (Prof.) Ranjith Bandara, Member of Parliament.

The amendment to the Provincial Councils (Transfer of Stamp Duty) Act, No.13 of 2011 was approved at the Committee meeting held under the Chairmanship of Hon. Anura Priyadharshana Yapa. This clause amends section 2 of the Provincial Councils (Transfer of Stamp Duty) Act, No. 13 of 2011 and the legal effect of the section as amended is to provide for refunding any stamp duty overpaid or erroneously paid.

Furthermore, the Gazette Extraordinary No. 2254/2 of 15th November 2021 for the purpose of tax exemptions for the Colombo Container Terminal (WCT-1) Expansion Development Project for under the Strategic Development Projects Act, No. 14 of 2008 was also approved at the Committee meeting held.

It will exempt the shareholders of the project from income tax for a period of 25 years and VAT, PAL, Cess and Customs exemptions will be for a period of 5 years. Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva, Member of Parliament raising concerns asked the newly appointed Chairman to the Board of Investments (BOI) Mr. Raja Edirisuriya how appropriate this tax exemption is for a country like Sri Lanka which is suffering from economic difficulties. The Hon. Member of Parliament, Hon. (Prof.) Ranjith Bandara pointed out that granting such tax exemptions is essential in order to compete with other countries in the current context.

Hon. State Ministers Vidura Wickramanayake, Kanchana Wijesekera, Indika Anuruddha and Hon. Members of Parliament M. A. Sumanthirann, (Dr.) Harsha de Silva, Vijitha Herath, Mujibur Rahman, (Dr.) Kavinda Jayawardana, Nalin Fernando, Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, (Dr.) Suren Raghavan, Anupa Pasqual, Isuru Dodangoda and (Prof.) Ranjith Bandara were present at the Committee meeting held.