Sweeping tax concessions for International Financial City Project

not exceed three percent of the gross operating revenue; on marketing fees provided however the total of such fees does not exceed 1.5 percent of the gross operating revenue and on incentive management fees provided however the total of such fees does not exceed 10 percent of the gross operating profit.

The expatriate staff of the project company will be exempted from the Pay as You Earn Tax (PAYE) subject to a restriction that this concession shall apply subject to the maximum number of 30 employees at any given time.

All imports of project related goods and local purchases of project related goods or services required for the implementation of the project as approved by the BOI will be exempted from the payment of Value Added Tax ( VAT), during the project implementation period of eight years. Any contractor or a sub-contractor who also supplies to such contractor will be entitled to the deferment as permitted in the VAT Act.

Other tax concessions will apply to the Ports and Airports Development Levy, the Construction Industry Guarantee Fund Levy imposed under the Finance Act, Excise duty payments, and Nation Building Tax ( NBT) and Customs duty exemptions on importation of project related items

The ministry says this project is expected to bring significant economic and social benefit to the country by the development of Colombo Port City creating a new land area, through potential employment generation and consequent income earning opportunities for the people of Sri Lanka. It is expected to attract secondary foreign direct investment for the development of the reclaimed land and by developing the planned Colombo International Finance Centre in the Colombo Port City and the consequent large foreign exchange turnover that could be generated.

The Port City project company is CHEC Port City Colombo (Private) Limited while China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) is the contractor for engineering, procurement and construction of the project. They are subsidiary companies of China Communications Construction Company Limited.