UCPS announced price increases this week at a press conference on Monday, 17th September, at its Head Quarters at Anse Des Genets. The press conference was attended by representatives from Seychelles Nation, Regar and Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly. The SPPF’s party rag, The People, newspaper was also invited. They said that they would be attending but unfortunately never showed up. They did not want to be the bearer of bad news or it might be getting a little bit too hot to handle and extremely difficult to justify the unjustifiable. Cowards! After GST, Devaluation, Fuel Tax Hike and large scale redundancies, all under the watch of President James Michel, this may be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. In fact, James Michel is now being advised to delay the imposition of an additional road tax from R.1 per cc to R.2 per cc. Too much shock it seems, might kill the patient!
According to Managing Director Payet, UCPS had no choice over the matter but to raise its prices. This, he said, was caused by the fact that over the last ten years every element involved in the production of blocks and other materials have gone up. “It is now costing us more than ever before to import materials such as explosives, spare parts and other consumables,” he said. “The currency movement which is estimated at around 36% is having a direct impact on production costs,” Mr. Payet commented. “This is the first time in ten years that we have put our prices up. The last time our prices went up was because of the introduction of GST,” Mr. Payet added.
The new prices will have a devastating impact on the construction industry. The price of building a house will now go up considerably estimated at almost 30%. The increment in the price of fuel will also contribute enormously in the higher costs of construction. The table below illustrates clearly the changes in the price structure at UCPS. At the time of going to press no mention of the price increases have been made in the official media, print, radio or television…… We wonder why? SESELWA TENIR PA PLENYEN