CCCI seeks withdrawal of ATV on scrap vessels

CHITTAGONG, June 24: Chittagong Chambers of Commerce and Industries (CCCI) has sought withdrawal of 3% ATV (advance trade vat) on scrap vessels that has been proposed in the fiscal budget for 2011-12.

President of CCCI Morshed Murad Ibrahim requested the government to maintain the duty at Tk 1000 per ton on the shipbreaking industry instead of the proposed Tk 1500 per ton in the next fiscal.

The requests were made to the Finance Minister of Bangladesh in an urgent message Thursday evening.

In the message he said that the shipbreaking has been playing a vital role in the nation building activities apart from depositing Tk 8000 million to the national exchequer as revenue every year.

But the industry suffered a lot over the last one year as import and cutting of scrap vessels were suspended fully due to hostile atmosphere created by vested quarters.

This has left the enterprises into uncertainty along with thousands of people employed in the industry and put a negative impact on the infrastructure development activities as the prices of re-rolled products went up in the domestic market, he said.

He also recalled that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year declared the shipbreaking as a thriving industry.

Source: The Financial Express. 25 June 2011 

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?page=detail_news&news_id=140519&date=2011-06-25