The Government has deferred the grant of duty free vehicles to public servants because of the serious financial situation in the country.

A way out of the impasse is to enable them to buy already imported reconditioned vehicles duty free.

At present, the garages of reconditioned car importers are choc-a-bloc with vehicles which they find difficult to sell. Since they have already paid duty on these vehicles, the Government can refund the duty paid on those vehicles purchased by public servants under the scheme.

If my suggestion is implemented, the Government would save on foreign exchange, while the importers could dispose of a good number of vehicles and public servants will have their duty free vehicles.

The Government should also ban the import of new and reconditioned non-transport vehicles exceeding 1300 c.c. for a period of at least one year or until the war is over.

This would be a big saving on fuel. There are too many vehicles both on the roads and in the importers’garages right now.

Rohan Jayasundera,
Colombo 06.