The Pune Municipal Corporation has become the first municipal body in the country offering property tax sops to information technology sector, if they plan to invest on road development.
A senior official from the PMC said, "Under the IT policy adopted by the state government in 2003, local municipal bodies have been given freedom to provide rebate in property tax to the IT sector provided they invest in city's infrastructure."
Taking advantage of the policy, PMC is offering a 75 per cent rebate in property tax to the developers of all the IT parks if approved by the state government as an IT park.
Under the scheme, promoters of an IT park can undertake the development of roads proposed in the development plan of the city and which are providing connectivity to the IT park.
Explaining the scheme, the official said, if any particular IT park is going to pay Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) to the PMC as a property tax, they would get a rebate of Rs 7.5 lakh (Rs 750,000) till they recover the cost of construction of the road.
However, the IT park would be required to complete the work at one go and they have to hand over the road to PMC before they start claiming rebates, he added.
He further said that through using this clause, PMC is expecting an investment to the tune of Rs 40-50 crore in two years.
Currently, there are four IT parks which have been given approval by the state government including Magarpatta City, Software Technology Park of India's Hinjewadi IT park, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's IT park at Kharadi on Ahmadnagar Road and Marhatta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture Park on Senapati Bapat Road, he said.
The proposal would be discussed in the standing committee's weekly meeting on Tuesday and it is likely that it would get through unanimously as all political parties have supported the civic administration's proposal, claimed the official.
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<font face="TAHOMA" color="#000099" size="3">ROAD TO SUCCESS</font></B><BR>
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<li> PMC has become the first civic body in the country to offer property tax sops to IT sector, if they plan to invest on road development
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<li> <b>PMC is offering a 75 % rebate in property tax to IT park developers</b>
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<li> PMC is expecting an investment to the tune of Rs 40-50 crore in two years
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