The Indian Express 27.08.2012
MHCC mulls tax sops for owners who conserve heritage buildings
To encourage private ownersand tenants to conserve and maintain heritage structures, the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Mumbai Heritage Conservation
Committee (MHCC) has recommended that the state government extend
financial incentives, such as tax benefits and concessional interest
rate on loans, to such properties. Besides, Trusts and charitable
institutions donating money to such properties may be allowed income tax
deduction, the committee has said.
If the recommendations are accepted by the state and the Central
government, Mumbai may well be the first metro in India to provide
varied financial incentives to owners of private heritage structures. At
present, among the country’s large cities or metros, Hyderabad is
perhaps the only one that specifically waives 50 per cent of property
tax for such structures.
“The recommendations were drafted by the MMRDA’s heritage
conservation wing under former Mumbai municipal commissioner D M
Sukhthankar. The previous heritage committee had in 2010 approved these.
We have studied them again and forwarded them to the state government
for approval,” said V Ranganathan, MHCC chairman. He added that the
committee has not yet discussed the possibility of drafting stricter
regulations against wanton demolition and alteration to heritage
properties.
In the list of incentives, a copy of which is available with
Newsline, the MHCC chairman stated: “It is a normal experience that
penalties and punishments, which are difficult to implement due to
considerable difficulties experienced in the administration having large
span of control, never act that effectively. The committee feels that
the incentive of Transferable Development Rights is not sufficient and
some direct monetary benefits as well as indirect tax benefits are
necessary.
demarcation of heritage sites into Special Incentive Zones and Special
Planning Zones has also been mooted. In Special Incentive Zones, akin to
SEZs or free trade zones, occupants will be allowed to conduct free
trade with tax holidays. Special Planning Zones call for the development
of specific regulations on FSI “so that there is no feeling of
inequity in the same zone”.
The committee has also proposed an amendment to the Rent Control
Act to exempt tenants from municipal and other taxes in exchange for
better conservation of rented heritage property. Understanding that some
of these propositions would require deliberations by the Centre, the
committee has pressed for the creation of defining criteria for
conservation, a database on the status of heritage structures and
earmarking of funds for heritage conservation from the BMC.
