Sri Lanka government is to ease the oppressive taxes imposed on the people after the economic situation is improved as the tax hikes were aimed at supporting 90 per cent of the people who need the state assistance, a senior minister said.

A great deal of indignation and fury as to the impact on their disposable income and lifestyle have been expressed by many over the media and social media.

In addition, concern has been expressed that the country will lose many skilled professionals who might migrate to countries with higher tax rates and compliance of nearly 100%!

The corporate sector, which is also being impacted, has demanded from the government greater restraint, accountability, and transparency on its spending.

Unfortunately, Sri Lankans, have, in addition to accepting corruption as part of country’s DNA, turned a blind eye to the civic responsibility of being a tax-compliant citizen for multiple reasons.

State Minister of Finance, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya says that the imposition of new taxes has been done in order to support 90 per cent of the people who need the government’s assistance.

Speaking to the media while joining an observation tour at Embilipitiya Excise Station, the State Minister mentioned that he hopes to revise the oppressive taxes for the people at the first possible opportunity.

“Taxes are not something that will continue forever. We are ready to reduce them at the first possible moment and provide relief to the taxpayer. But until then we have to keep this society alive.”

Social security contribution levy was criticized by many people, the State Minister said, mentioning that he also believes that it is not that much of a good tax to be imposed.

Further, he expressed that they hope to remove some parts of the social security contribution levy which has some effects, by the beginning of next year.

“The first meeting of the Treasury which will be held on January 02, is to talk about the taxes”, he said.

Sri Lanka’s Rail transport service is deteriorating day by day despite efforts to repair and rebuild railway lines country wide with the involvement of IRCON International, a fully owned company of the Indian Government, in upgrading railway lines.

Upgrading crucial lines of Sri Lanka’s railway system could cost the Government up to US $4.5 billion but the move will provide a significant impetus to economic growth, a railway expert said.

No daily maintenance, no dollar for spare parts 60-70 trains a day are cancelled, train service delays, derailments and timetable changes are all due to financial crunch, General Secretary of All Sri Lanka Railway Employees General Employees Union and co-convener of Railway Union Alliance S. B. Vithanage said.

He said that there is informal management and inefficiency in the department and that railway tracks should be maintained daily and now due to lack of proper maintenance train derailments occur frequently.

He said that due to the lack of dollars required for the importation of the spare parts and the maintenance of the train carriages, the railway is now in a very bad condition and because of this 60 or 70 trains are running a day is canceled.

Stating that 9,000 posts are unfilled in various sections of the railway service, Vithanage said another 700 will retire by December 31, 2022 and the number of vacancies will increase by January 1, 2023.

Apart from this, he said that due to lack of tools like shoes, pen roll, clips etc. required for railways, the railway tracks are dilapidated day by day.

He noted that the speed of the coastal train has been reduced by 30 to 40 km per hour due to maintenance crisis as planned by Indian IRCON.

IRCON International, a fully owned company of the Indian Government, is on the verge of marking 12 year in Sri Lanka, having completed upgrading to the tsunami railway line and the much publicised northern railway link.

Similar upgrades to the railway lines to Kandy, Omanthai and Trincomalee would increase connectivity and fast track transport at a cheaper cost to the country, opined IRCON Project Manager in Sri Lanka S.L Gupta.

India’s state-run IRCON will begin a 33 billion rupee (about 90 million dollars) upgrade of section rail track to the northern city of Jaffna from January 05, Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardana said.

The upgrade from Maho to Omanthai in Vavuniya will see the track capable of running trains at speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour.

The track from Omanthai to Jaffna was previously upgraded under an Indian credit line.The travel time from Colombo to Jaffna will be cut by about an hour after the upgrade. The track will be closed for five months from January five.

Sri Lanka Railways will operate 5 trains to Anuradhapura daily and busses will be provided by state-run Ceylon Transport Board and other operators to carry passengers to Jaffna.The section of the track has 213 culverts and 90 bridges an IRCON official said.

The track now has speed restrictions on 27 locations where the train can be run at 10 to 40 kilometres an hour. After the upgrade the minimum speed will be 70 kmph.

The track will be re-built from the bottom up, with new ballast and welded tracks, which will allow for fast smooth travel without the current ‘jerks’.

Sri Lanka is set to introduce first ever National Agricultural Policy and it will be presented in Parliament shortly by the subject Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.

The expert committee appointed to prepare the National Agricultural Policy informed that they have already finalized draft of this new policy.

Former Agriculture Director Generals, Ministry Secretaries as well as university professors and agricultural representatives were in the committee including Senior Prof. Buddhi Marambe, Prof. Udith Jayasinghe, Prof. Palitha Weerakkody, Prof. M.B. Rathnathilaka, Dr. B.V.R. Punyawardena, Dr. D.S. Kuruppuarachchi, former Director Generals of Agriculture Dr. Ajanta de Silva and Dr. W.M.M Weerakoon.

The Minister said that the final draft will be submitted to the parliament for approval, and after that everyone should work for the implementation of the new Agriculture Act.

“ A s um of US $400 million have been spent on the import of rice in a period of 10 months. Therefore, it is necessary to give everyone’s support for the implementation of the national agricultural policy,” he added.

Following the identification of about 100,000 acres of uncultivated land, the Ministry of Agriculture has planned to acquire the land for the Government for a period of five years, with effect from this year 2023.

Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera said that the approximately 100,000 acres of land remain uncultivated although most are suited for cultivation purposes.

The Agricultural Lands Act, No. 42 of 1973 will be amended accordingly so that these lands can be given to youths who have no lands to cultivate,” he said.

Upon establishing an agreement with those who cultivate the respective land under the five-year programme, Amaraweera said that landowners may opt to cultivate the land if they so desire, at the end of the five-year period.

If the landowners choose to not cultivate the land, he said that steps will be taken to direct those who cultivate the land to give a part of the harvest to the landlords as ground rent.

Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector, mainly paddy cultivation, has suffered a major setback since April 2021 with the Cabinet of Ministers’ decision to ban the import and use of chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals, as per a proposal made by then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Since then, many farmers are reported to have abandoned cultivating their fields, resulting in the fall of harvests in several cultivating seasons since.

The Asian Development Bank will grant Rs. 8 billion to be distributed among the 1.2 million farmer families and youths who will participate in the massive paddy cultivation programme.

In addition to these 100,000 acres, another 800,000 hectares of paddy fields will be cultivated in the next Yala season in 2023.

The utilisation of 5,000 hectares of land in Moneragala, Kotiyagala and Kabilitta for farming was also proposed as a precautionary measure to prevent the food crisis which is expected in the future.

This decision was taken at a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat under the patronage of the President’s Senior Adviser on National Security and Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayake recently.

Although nearly 8,000 hectares of land in these areas were owned by the Forest Department for reforestation, it has been decided to commence reforestation activities in only 3,000 hectares of land in which saplings have already been planted.

The temporary distribution of the remaining 5,000 hectares of land amongst farmers for cultivation until the necessary facilities for reforestation were prepared was also discussed at the meeting.