Tax waivers may be sought for project

GREATER NOIDA: Swiss company Zurich International AG that will build the Noida international airport is likely to demand tax concessions when it will meet Uttar Pradesh government officials on Thursday in Lucknow, officials said on Wednesday.

Tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF), passenger charges, airport taxes, ticket taxes, stamp taxes, and others, will be among the relief measures that the concessionaire is expected to seek. For greenfield airports, the ministry of civil aviation left the decision on offering fiscal incentives to state governments.

However, the officials said that the amount of taxes in a year is yet to be estimated.

The Swiss company has been given the rights to run the airport for 40 years under its Indian subsidiary Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIALP). The tax exemptions, said the officials, are required to make the project economically viable.

“We will put forth YIAPL’S demands before the government with our recommendations during Thursday’s meeting. The final decision will be upto the state government,” said Arun Vir Singh, the chief executive officer of Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), which is a government joint venture that will implement the project, and Yamuna expressway industrial development authority (Yeida).

Singh will also be attending the meeting with Yeida officer on special duty Shailendra Bhatia and Zurich International officials. Neither YIALP officials nor Zurich International AG officials responded to request for comment.

It is expected that the work on the airport will begin by June this year.