New scheme to promote Seychelles’ built heritage

In an effort to promote Seychelles’ rich architectural tradition and the country’s built heritage, the government is introducing an incentive package which will help businesses and private property owners repair and maintain buildings and houses of heritage value.

These include private as well as public buildings and houses, big or small.

The new incentive package was announced yesterday during a meeting between the Seychelles heritage incentive scheme committee and the Minister for Tourism and Culture, Alain St Ange.

Minister St Ange pointed out that this will be a positive step for the protection of the valuable attributes Seychelles possesses.

The chairman of the Seychelles heritage incentive scheme committee, Patrick Nanty, illustrated the three components of the scheme – tax, grant and planning incentives.

In accordance with the Business Tax Act, 2009, businesses can benefit from 100% business tax relief for any donations or sponsorships made towards the preservation of the built heritage and channeled through the Seychelles Heritage Foundation.

Secondly, under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Tax, businesses can use their full CSR contribution towards repairs and maintenance of any building which has been identified as a building of heritage value.

As announced by the Minister for Finance in his budget address government will make available contributions from the CSR Tax to partially assist towards the maintenance of buildings and houses which have been identified as of heritage significance. It is expected that the grant will be of interest in particular to a variety of house owners for basic repairs or restoration works on eligible properties.

Apart from the tax and grant incentives, the scheme will also make available other benefits under the Planning Authority which will also serve to promote preservation and restoration works. In general these ‘planning incentives’ will provide for flexibility or variation to policies and regulations in the strict interest of preservation. They include variations to land use plans, setback requirements, building extensions, density requirements etc. as well as reduction of fees and charges for planning applications. Once again details of these incentives will be made available by the relevant authority.

This new scheme is regarded as a milestone in terms of heritage conservation, since it is the first time the Seychelles government will provide financial support to private establishments in order to maintain precious building traditions.

So far a small working team from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the Seychelles Heritage Foundation consulted approximately 25 property owners within and around the Victoria area regarding their interest in the scheme. The response was highly positive with individual concerns and proposals being noted for consideration but also prompting the ministry and the SHF to look confidently towards the involvement of the private sector and of property owners including owners in other parts of the country in the scheme.

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