MEMBER of Parliament for North West Guadalcanal Bodo Dettke has questioned the Government’s commitment to fulfilling its policy on rural economic development and empowerment.
Mr Dettke said the DCC Government in its policy document expresses commitment to rural development and the empowerment of Solomon Islanders to participate in economic development and Prime Minister Sogavare has been emphasising this policy commitment at events he was invited to speak at.
However, the North West Guadalcanal MP said he is yet to see the translation of this policy commitment into action.
He cited the Minister of Finance and Treasury’s non response to his applications for tax exemptions for root crop and fruit processing machines and vehicles for the North West Guadalcanal Farmers’ Processing Facility as a clear show of the government’s lack of commitment to its policy promises to ordinary Solomon Islanders.
Mr Dettke said the vision behind the establishment of the root crop and fruit processing facility located behind his compound east of King George Sixth School in Honiara is to engage his constituents in entrepreneurial activities to be financially self-reliant and empowered to pursue their dreams.
He told the Solomon Star during a tour of the facility that he is eyeing tapping into the European Union market to ensure greater economic returns for his constituents for their processed root crop and fruit exports and to achieve this vision, the processing facility must comply with EU Market operational standards.
“I am committed to ensure that we meet the required EU standards,” Mr Dettke said.
“We are going to process noni juice and chips, virgin coconut oil, cocoa powder, pineapple juice and dried pineapple chunks as well as cassava and sweet potato chips,” he added.
“If other small Pacific island nations with lesser land mass can obtain
millions of dollars from such exports, I believe my constituency and all other constituencies in the country can do better.
“As you can see here I have four buildings which will be installed with root crop and fruit processing machines.
“I have ordered the machines and applied for tax and duty exemptions.
“Two months on, I am yet to receive any response from the Minister of Finance and Treasury to my letter requesting tax exemption.
“I also ordered coconut oil pressing machines and applied for tax-exemptions but I’m also yet to receive any response from the Minister of Finance and Treasury despite the machines arriving in three weeks.
“I made follow ups on my letter and the response from the Minister is that he has not seen the file containing my letter.
“I text the Prime Minister to have a word with the Finance and Treasury Minister and the Prime Minister responded saying he will deal with the Finance and Treasury Minister but since that response nothing positive eventuated.”
Mr Dettke said he has also ordered 23 vehicles for the West Guadalcanal Farmers’ and also applied for tax-exemptions but was told that he had to order vehicles through the preferred government supplier in order to be given a tax exemption.
“The preferred supplier policy is ridiculous in this case because for the price of one vehicle ordered through the preferred supplier, I get two if I order directly from the vehicle dealer in Japan.”
He said when the first 11 vehicles of the order arrived, he had no choice but to pay for the entire importation costs of the fleet of vehicles to have them released from the Point Cruz port compound.
Mr Dettke said his application for tax exemption for his importation of household items and bicycles for distribution to his constituents were also ignored and had to meet taxation fees for these goods himself.
He said it is totally unfair to see the government issuing tax exemptions to certain companies and individuals but not to the North West Guadalcanal Farmers’ Processing Facility, an initiative with the vision of empowering rural Solomon Islanders from his constituency in economic development to improve their livelihood.
Mr Dettke said Guadalcanal Province is one of the country’s major contributors to the national economy by availing its land resource for major national economic development projects and it is a slap on the face of the people of North West Guadalcanal to be ignored of tax exemptions for necessary equipment for an economic development and empowerment initiative.
The MP for West Guadalcanal said what the Minister of Finance and the Democratic Coalition for Change Government must bear in mind is that the North West Farmers’ Processing Facility will not only benefit the people of North West Guadalcanal but the nation as a whole.
He said a serious issue that the government should be conscious of is that copra, which is the country’s major agriculture export at the moment, will cease to be so in the next three to five years due to its failure to address the invasion of the coconut industry by the rhinoceros betel.
The MP for North West Guadalcanal said unless the government starts developing other potential agriculture products to replace the country’s heavy reliance on copra exports for foreign receipts, the country will be in a serious economic crisis in the near future.
By LESLEY SANGA
