xXx

That's a very interesting point you got their abut the future relevance. Never thought of it that way. If you are after a cheaper exotic EV, Fiskers are going for real cheap these days,

Big X-Files fan here as well. I was reminiscing the main storyline/plot the other day and now that I think about it it’s pretty cheesy. Aline colonization, rebel alien group, black virus etc. Anyway I’m looking forward for the reboot. It’ll be interesting to see the story behind the reincarnation of the cigarette smoking man.

Let me get this straight, so PreseaLover Don’t like Kandy girls and their ‘heat’ Thinks hot girls are dumb bimbos Like to research on cheating techniques Have a tendency for stalking And where makeup on his face Any budding screen writers in AL? There some crazy sh*t right here for a raunchy screenplay lol….

I think the plan is to introduce a scheme where only authorized licensed entities can import vehicles even that at a fixed quota. This way these entities can be closely monitored and regulated and there’s also the ability for extra revenue in the form of an import license. Will this work only time will tell.

I don’t understand your rational behind point # 2. All the cars that are imported is for domestic use. Though they may sit on the sellers site for a while they will get snapped up by a local buyer at some point. It’s not like they have a shelf life and get shipped back or destroyed. If the government is to stem the flow of imports only option is to make them unattractive to potential buyers in the form of tax/duty hike. Another option may be to introduce a permit/license (per car) at a cost to import a car. Or increase the license, registration, insurance etc fees and funnel that money into infrastructure and public transportation improvements. Latter option will of course effect pretty much all the cars in the country but on the plus side there will only be a need for a smaller increase. Bottom line is amount of cars pouring in to this country far out phase the rate of infrastructure development and there’s no other option but to stem the flow (atleast till the infrastructure catches up). This should effect everyone from a Maruti buyer (though I would personnel like to see the lower middle class upgrade from a 2/3 wheeler to a 4) to the BMW buyer. Similar schemes are in operation in other developed countries. I find most of the responses here regarding this matter to be somewhat self-centered. You have a group of people (car owners of course) who want to see a cut in imports because of the traffic situation and then you have a group who has realized there is a problem but still would like the option to buy decent car for a reasonable price (have the cake and eat it too situation). As some of you have already mentioned unless you sold your car weeks leading up to this fiasco and do not own a car right now, there no need to panic and start buying one. Unless you have “Sumanadasa’s” power of foresight best is to wait till the budget is tabled. My view is if there is a significant tax increase during the budget it’ll be short term (as in 3 -5 years) till the economy picks up. I won’t be surprised if the policymakers adopt some short term austerity measures.

On a slightly different note, on build threads like these i think it'll be great if the OP can mention where/how the parts were sourced and share the contact details of the service providers used. This will no doubt immensely help others eyeing similar projects. oh btw car looks great OH!

Can someone please post the link to this group? Or what to search for in FB? Panda club????

I think this is an interim measure till the budget is tabled. There are rumors of a volume base concession for mass importers to discourage individual imports and there's talks of a quota system to control the number of imports.

I agree with you boys 100%. Now lets see how long it'll take for some of these "geniuses" to start saying "I'm a young professional/executive but i can only afford a 20 year old car and how unfair the tax structure is..."

Well there were quite a few Autolankans wanting/hoping for a tax increase as a solution to the congestion problem . Consider their wish granted LMAO.....

Couldn't they simply cancel or reverse/refund the money back to teh card instead of giving you cash?

It make sense doesn't it? These permits were a joke from day one. They are issued to under paid government workers as a compensation. If so why is there such a high age restriction? Taking the age restriction into account why is the permit reissued every 5 years? and how can an underpaid worker afford a premium car? Due to stupid policy decisions like this it makes it hard to provide concessions to people who deserve a car.

So which category do you fall under?

It doesn't necessarily have to be underground metro. It can easily be an overground/elevated one. Most of the metro systems in other cites are somewhat subsided by the local government. So if one to be implemented here coming up with the correct price structure will be crucial. I believe this was the main reason why the park and ride venture which opened up few years ago went bust. What's the current price of a one way rail ticket say from Mt. Lavinia to Colpetty? That's an interesting point about the bus routes. I wonder if there's ever been a review of all the existing bus routes. Regarding the VW factory, if you take the bigger picture into account i believe a foreign direct investment like the VW factory is much more important at this point in time to our economy than a metro system. We've been lacking big investments like these for decades now. Hopefully this'll be the opening of the flood gates and more will follow. That's an unfair comparison. You need a good highway network to connect the remote parts of the country and to easily move goods and services. My only criticism regarding the highways is on the wast amount of public money that was scammed during the construction phase.

Sasika, since more gizmos equal high probability of things going wrong you can use that as an excuse for not buying the 200 as well.