Customs kicks off awareness week today ahead of Presidential opening of Rs. 8 b HQ on 14 July

Monday, 7 July 2014 01:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The state-of-the-art building for Sri Lanka Customs’ new headquarters will be ceremonially opened by Minister of Finance and President Mahinda Rajapaksa next week. Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Customs Director General Jagath P. Wijeweera, officials of the Ministry of Finance and senior Customs officers will grace the occasion. The sprawling headquarters was built at a cost of Rs. 8 billion. A special ‘Customs Awareness Week’ has been organised from 7 to 12 July to educate school children prior to the grand opening. The Customs Museum, a one-of-a-kind place to showcase the department’s long-standing history exhibiting the samples of various unlawful items detected in the course of time, will also be opened for the public on the same day.

It is significant to note that the construction of the 11-storey building was commenced in November 2005 with the laying of the foundation stone by then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, a few days prior to his appointment as President. Sri Lanka Customs has a history of over 200 years as a department since 1809 to 2009. The department was established in 1806, and the first Comptroller General was appointed in 1809 as the organisational head. The title was soon changed to Principal Collector of Customs until 1988, which again transformed to Director General of Customs. The department did not possess a permanent office premises for many years and was housed at numerous locations, including the Ports Authority, the old Times of Ceylon building and the Grindlays Bank building in Fort. In 2005, land was allocated by the Government on the Chalmers Jetty to build the new headquarters. The awareness week will educate schoolchildren on six main topics about the Customs and its operations each day. Today, 7 July, the history of Customs will be explained. Although the Customs has been institutionalised for over 200 years, the history of taxing and collecting revenue from foreign importers dates back to the first century AD, according to the ‘Godawaya Inscription’ in Ambalantota. On the second day, the economic factor of the department, including the collection of revenue, will be explained. In all, 57% of the State revenue on taxation is earned by Customs, which will be spent mainly on national infrastructure development work. The element of social protection will be presented on the third day, where prevention of hazardous material flowing into the country such as narcotics, dangerous drugs, and substandard food, etc. is monitored by the Customs. Awareness on trade and travel facilitation will be made on the fourth day, on how legitimate importers are granted tax concessions as an encouragement and duty relief facilities for tourists like duty free shops. The enforcement of the law is another important feature of the department that would be explained on the fifth day. Smuggling and illegal trading have been tried since ancient times and it is the responsibility of Sri Lanka Customs to arrest and take legal action against people who smuggle narcotics, jewellery and gold, hazardous materials and prohibited wildlife, fauna, and flora. Innovation and the evolution of the modern Customs will be explained on the last day. Many services like the Customs Declaration (CUSDEC) documents have been converted to electronic forms to meet e-system needs of the modern day. The awareness week will be held at the Customs Auditorium.