The management of Ports & Terminal Multi-services Limited (PTML), Tin Can Island Ports Lagos, has said that the federal government new automotive policy has affected importation of vehicles into the country in the last three months.
The concessionaire also called on the government to review the policy saying that the new duty regime on vehicles introduced by the federal government under the fiscal policy measures of automotive industry in the country has not made business to thrive recently.
The management of Ports & Terminal Multi-services Limited (PTML), Tin Can Island Ports Lagos, has said that the federal government new automotive policy has affected importation of vehicles into the country in the last three months.
The concessionaire also called on the government to review the policy saying that the new duty regime on vehicles introduced by the federal government under the fiscal policy measures of automotive industry in the country has not made business to thrive recently.
Receiving the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation during an oversight visit by members of the committee to its offices at Tin Can Island Port last week,Tuesday, the company’s Executive Director, Mr. Askanio Russo, alleged that because of the policy, the terminal in the last three months recorded a dramatic drop in vehicles discharged.
The executive director attributed the situation to the non-uniform practices by the Customs Command which oversees the terminal situated at Tin Can Island Port (TCIP).
He alleged that the Customs uses different ex-factory prices and valuation assessment for used vehicles discharged at the terminal different from that obtained at other Tin Can Island terminals.
Russo lamented that if not checked, it would threaten the successful Private Public Partnership (PPP) between the federal government and the investors as well as affect the revenues accruing to the government.
According to him, there was disparity in tariff interpretation to the extent that the clearance of vehicles which would be impossible at the terminal was allowed at the other terminals and that there was a disparity in control mechanisms at the two points.
Even though it is faced with some challenges, the PTML boss said since inception, the terminal had handled over 1,000 ships, over one million vehicle units, 500,000 containers and 300,000 general cargoes.
According to a statement by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) whose officials monitored the exercise, Mr. Russo informed the committee members that as a result of the uneven and inconsistent application of the new duty regime by the customs, the terminal had recorded a huge diversion of traffic to its competing terminals in Tin Can Island.
PTML is a green field multi-purpose port terminal developed by Grimaldi Group in 2005 under a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement.
Meanwhile, In his remarks, the chairman of the committee, Senator Olugbenga Obadara, said the committee would intervene to ensure that the terminal operators were given equal opportunity.
PTML is a green field multi-purpose port terminal developed by Grimaldi Group in 2005 under a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement.
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