SOLOMON Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) says it is disappointed at Solomon Islands Port Authority’s (SIPA) decision to leave the Chamber.
SIPA withdrew its membership last week in the wake of the controversy surrounding its reforms.
A number of Chamber members have sharply criticised SIPA’s new tariff rates, describing them as excessive.
SICCI in a statement yesterday said it is focused on inclusive economic growth from all members of the business community and all business sectors.
“Unfortunately there have been recent allegations from SIPA regarding some of our foreign investors in joint ventures which are unsubstantiated and potentially damaging to our members,” the statement said.
“We have heard recently at the SIPA forum that SIPA has recently created 60 casual jobs from their rice import, as part of the socio economic reforms which we applaud.
“To put things into perspective, from an economic point of view, GPPOL has plans to invest more than SBD$1 billion into expansion of its operations and to create potentially 6000 permanent jobs from a company that is 20 percent owned by Solomon Islanders.
“Our challenge as a nation today is to create 10,000 jobs each year to cater for our current population growth.
“We need to ensure as a society we can provide education, health care, jobs and opportunities for all our people,” said SICCI Chairman Jay Bartlett.
