The Hon. Kitnan Selvaraj

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, today’s measures under the Customs Ordinance for vehicle imports and regulations under the Construction Industry Development Act aim at the country’s future development. The National People’s Power Government presents them; the Opposition critiques them vigorously.

¶ 02 When the Government took office, the country had defaulted. Today, macro stability has been restored — a significant achievement for the people and the Government. Under the previous regime, vehicle imports were banned, and construction collapsed, with many workers losing jobs. Reviving construction and normalizing the sector is necessary; opposition arguments against this are not persuasive.

¶ 03 Some Northern representatives have focused on the Chemmani issue, which the Prime Minister has already addressed: under this Government there will be fair investigation and accountability. If leaders in the North and East continue to stoke communal rhetoric, they will face a backlash similar to what extremists faced in the South. Instead, focus should be on how to uplift the Northern economy and integrate development.

¶ 04 The new legal arrangements provide some relief to the middle class. As technology evolved from petrol/diesel to hybrids, earlier laws were updated; now, with further technological change, we must again update the laws. Rather than classifying new-tech EVs as “other” (and imposing extra duty), the proposal applies parity with earlier tax structures, aligning EVs with appropriate rates, as was done when hybrids were introduced. The Opposition continues the same bankruptcy politics of the past, mobilizing unions as in earlier times, but these measures are necessary to sustain the recovery.