Anura Priyadharshana Yapa re-elected as Public Finance Committee chairman

SLPP MP Anura Priyadharshana Yapa was unanimously elected to serve as the Chairman to the Committee on Public Finance at its first meeting held on Tuesday.

Yapa chaired the Committee before the prorogation of Parliament and was re-elected as Chairman of the newly constituted committee.

At its first meeting the Committee approved amendment to the Provincial Councils (Transfer of Stamp Duty) Act No. 13 of 2011 which gives legal effect of the section as amended is to provide for refunding any stamp duty overpaid or erroneously paid.

The Gazette Extraordinary No. 2254/2 of 15 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.

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 five years. 

SJB MP Harsha de Silva questioned if it is appropriate to grant tax exemptions when the country is  suffering from economic difficulties. SLPP MP Ranjith Bandara pointed out that granting such tax exemptions is essential in order to compete with other countries in the current context.

State Ministers Vidura Wickramanayake, Kanchana Wijesekera, Indika Anuruddha and MPs M.A. Sumanthiran, Harsha de Silva, Vijitha Herath, Mujibur Rahman, Dr. Kavinda Jayawardana, Nalin Fernando, Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, Suren Raghavan, Anupa Pasqual, Isuru Dodangoda and Ranjith Bandara were present at the Committee meeting.