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Aid
container jam: Govt's cure worse than disease NGOs that cannot pay the required customs duty may be required to let the Government distribute the relief aid they have received. Relief organizations are continuing to face immense difficulties when clearing tsunami relief goods from customs due to taxes imposed by the Government. A number of NGOs have been unable to clear container loads of relief aid due to the taxes re-imposed by the Government in the first week of last month. Customs Chief S.A.C.S.W. Jayatilleke confirmed that the Sri Lanka Customs currently held close to 250 container loads of goods and said they would be released according to the instructions he received from the Secretary to the Treasury on Thursday. In a letter to the Director General of Customs on Thursday, Treasury Secretary P.B Jayasundara gave guidelines for the release of relief items. According to the annexure to the letter, items such as new garments, bottled water and generators are supposed to be handed over to the Director of Social Services for distribution. Similarly, items such as infant food and milk and gully emptier and water bowsers are to be handed over to the Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction. Building materials and building construction machinery equipment are to be released upon the recommendation of the Urban Development Authority and communication equipment is to be cleared only on the recommendation of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Defence. Meanwhile, if duty is not paid for used garments and textiles, or if the cargo is abandoned, they are to be disposed of by the Social Services Director in a suitable manner. Similarly, and barring a few exceptions, a large part of imported relief goods are to be handed over to Government agencies including those mentioned above, for distribution. The Social and Economic Development Center (SEDEC), the social action arm of the Catholic Church, is one such organization that has faced relief clearance problems. SEDEC National Director Fr. Damian Fernando said ten container loads of goods were still being detained by the customs at the Colombo Port. "We have ten container loads that have been detained since the government brought back the taxes," said Fr. Fernando. "The main problem was that the regulations were introduced overnight," he said. "If we were given even a week's notice we could have told our donors not to ship goods down," he said. Fr. Fernando said some of the containers being held in customs contained food items. "These foodstuffs may be spoilt and unusable after all this time," he said. "Our main concern at the moment though is to release a shipment of tents we have received," Fr. Fernando said. International NGO World Vision's Sri Lanka office is also grappling with the new duty laws imposed by the Government. World Vision has a number of container loads of relief goods still uncleared, including 6000 tents, cooking utensils and other household items. "If Social Services or another Ministry takes over our goods, we have the problem of being accountable to our donors," said World Vision National Director Yu Hwa Li. "If we hand over our goods to Government agencies, how will we compile reports of where the aid went?" he asked. The National Director said he hoped they would be able to resolve this issue at a meeting with the relevant ministries tomorrow. The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, an NGO working mainly in LTTE-controlled areas has the same problem with clearing shipments. "We have over fifty containers which have been held up over the past three and a half weeks due to this tax issue," TRO Programme Director Chandru Pararajasingham said. "We've spent money and cleared some things like water purification equipment which was needed urgently, but the rest of the cargo is still with customs," he said. "If we can't pay the tax, the only way to release the goods will be to hand them over to the Social Services Department which will then distribute them as it pleases," Mr. Pararajasingham said. |
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