Management of Dangote Group has said it will get a three-year tax
holiday after constructing the 35km Apapa-Oworonshoki road.
Devakumar Edwin, an executive director in the company, made this known in a statement shared with TheCable on Tuesday.
Edwin
said “the company has never benefited any tax waivers or credits in its
entire history except when it is industry based and same applies to all
industry players.
“It is very painful when some people accuse
our company of benefitting 10 years’ tax rebate from the government.
There is nothing like tax credit in all these.
“We volunteered to
construct the Apapa to Oworonshoki long highway at a cost that will be
about 15 to 25% less than the lowest bid on the road.
“We hope to get back our money after three years by removing the sum from the tax we are supposed to pay.”
He
explained that the company proposed to the government to take out 50%
of the total cost of the road from its proposed tax in the first year
after completion and 25% in each of the next two years.
“The
government came forward and said, good enough your company is repairing a
road that is very important to all Nigerians… is it possible to help us
do proper road construction of 35 kilometers from Apapa to Oworonshoki?
“We
advised the government to go for a competitive bidding and also that we
will take it up at a cost that will be lower than the lowest bid
received by the government.
“Since the government may not be
handy with cash, we proposed that we will recover our money over three
years in installments against our future tax.
“The reality is the
government will not pay us for the construction, but we will only
offset our costs against our three years tax.”
He explained that
the company volunteered to repair the Apapa road as part of its
corporate social responsibility initiative and that the construction
would be carried out at 15-25% lesser than the lowest bid.
The
federal government had said it would use tax incentive order to hand
over the Apapa area comprising Creek Road, Liverpool Road, Marine Beach
to Mile 2, Oshodi, Oworonshoki to the Lagos end of the Toll Gate on the
Ibadan Expressway to Dangote Group.
TheCable