Parliament will debate four Bills tomorrow.
They are the Civil Aviation Reform Amendment Bill 2019, Maritime Transport Amendment Bill 2019, Telecommunication Amendment Bill and Excise Amendment No.2 Bill 2019.
While speaking on his motions to table the Bills tomorrow, Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says the Maritime Transport Amendment Bill 2019 seeks to give the Minister for Transport the ability to give a coastal trading license to shipping companies for up to 20 years.
Currently, the shipping companies are getting a one year coastal trading license.
Sayed-Khaiyum says in order for them to encourage better ship services and better quality of ships in the maritime areas, they need to get more private sector partnership and the Minister for Transport should have the ability to give longer term contracts to shipping companies.
Speaking on the Telecommunication Amendment Bill which will also be tabled tomorrow, Sayed-Khaiyum says most people don’t make voice calls now and simply web chat, use facebook messenger or do Viber calls.
He says they are proposing to put a 10 cents levy on data usage though this Bill.
Sayed-Khaiyum says this levy will go into a trust fund which will be used to provide community outreach connectivity.
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