Workers are seen in a tyre shop. ACCCIS has appealed to the Sarawak government to abolish the State Sales Tax imposed on imported tyres — Bernama photo
KUCHING (Sept 24): The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Sarawak (ACCCIS) has appealed to the State government to abolish the State Sales Tax imposed on imported tyres, which took effect early last year.
President Datuk Tan Jit Kee said this was part of ACCCIS’ proposal and input sent to Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg prior to the tabling of the 2022 State Budget.
“Previously, the businesses from the tyre industry had approached the chamber to deal with the SST on tyres. When we presented the appeal to the Chief Minister, he had agreed to reduce the SST from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent.
“But now we want this to be abolished so that there will be no SST on imported tyres,” he explained.
Tan said ACCCIS also appealed to Abang Johari to stop the Kuching Port Authority (KPA) from collecting channel maintenance fees from importers and port users.
He opined that it defied logic for KPA to charge the fees even before the completion of the dredging project.
“We want to appeal to the chief minister and State government to provide funding for KPA to acquire a new quay crane so that the service delivery of containers will improve for the benefit of consignees and importers,” he told a virtual press briefing here today.
Tan pointed out that early this year, there was congestion and delays in the handling of containers at Senari Port due to the computer outage at KPA.
As a result, he said shipping companies had imposed a congestion surcharge on consignees and importers.
“That was unfair because the congestion was beyond the control of the consignees and importers. To improve delivery service, the State government should provide funding to KPA to acquire a new quay crane,” he stressed, adding ACCCIS had prepared the letter and would submit it to Abang Johari in time for the upcoming State Budget.
He also appealed to the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) to revise the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the southern region of Sarawak, which remains under Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
Tan said given the high Covid-19 vaccination rate in Sarawak, it is high time for SDMC to increase the workforce capacity for both the civil service and private sector.
“Even though the southern region is placed under Phase 2 of the NRP, I think the SDMC and state government should follow what was decided at the federal level – to allow those agencies or private sector which have achieved an 80 per cent staff fully vaccinated to operate at 100 per cent capacity.
“We hope similar guidelines are to apply to the civil service to increase the workforce in order to reduce the backlog in the cases in the government departments,” he said.
The southern region covers Kuching, Bau, Lundu, Samarahan, Simunjan, Asajaya, Serian, and Tebedu.
“This is so that not only the private sector but also the civil service can return to normal capacity as soon as possible, and this will expedite the progress of the recovery of our very fragile economy,” Tan added.