Environment Friendly Electric Vehicles Taxed Only in Srilanka

Sri Lanka is the only country that imposes taxes on electric vehicle imports, while the rest of the world does nothing of the kind. These vehicles should be considered environment friendly as they do not consume fossil fuel, well known academic Dr Ravi Fernando said. At a time when other countries are eliminating duty on electric vehicle imports, Sri Lanka is the only country that imposes a 75 percent duty on such vehicles, a condition stemming from the last budget, Fernando, who is the Executive in Residence at INSEAD Business School in France said at a World.

Environment Day seminar held at the University of Colombo last week. He said the time is opportune to move out of fossil fuel and promote renewable energy for the betterment of the country and for the globe due to global warming. Therefore, solar power and other renewable energy could be used as a substitute for fossil fuel in order to prevent pollution, Fernando said. Sri Lanka is absolutely on the wrong track when it comes to protecting the environment and this trend has to be reversed , if not Sri Lanka will become a desert in a few decades time, Fernando added.

He also said that protecting bio diversity is the need of the hour because the remaining forest cover of 16 percent in Sri Lanka will diminish in no time. Sri Lanka destroyed 85 percent of its forest cover during the last 30 years, he explained.A network of private sector companies is working together on biodiversity conservation issues, to commemorate World Environment Day. The celebration under the theme, connecting People to Nature, provided the ideal opportunity to launch a Coffee Table Book initiated by INSEE Cement in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) titled, To Our Planet with Respect CEO, INSEE Cement Nandana Ekanayake said. As a major stakeholder in the construction industry,we are sincerely concerned about striving to create a better world for tomorrow while building the structures of today. Our passion for biodiversity protection is clearly reflected in the many strategies we have in place to safeguard the delicate balance within our ecosystem. Through our membership with Biodversity Sri Lanka we are glad to be able to share our success stories with the private sector both nationally and internationally.