http://www.b92.net/eng/news/business-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=10&dd=10&nav_id=54129
Tax breaks for Fiat 10 October 2008 | 11:56 | Source: B92 KRAGUJEVAC -- The Kragujevac City Assembly will make a decision today on a proposal to exempt Fiat from tax obligations until 2018. If the proposal is passed, it would save Fiat some EUR 580,000 over the next ten years. Kragujevac Deputy Mayor Nebojša Zdravković explained that Fiat would be exempt from paying local utility taxes over the next ten years, as well as taxes on property and land. “We will also pass a decision to launch an initiative to formulate a plan for the detailed regulation of Kormansko Polje, where all Fiat’s associates will be housed, and where Iveco will make its truck factory and put its associates too,” he said. “Fiat plans to begin building of a big new production facility in December. For the new facility, they won’t have to pay anything that is necessary, including the organization of the construction land, which will be the most important part of that job,” Zdravković said. Fiat’s associate companies in Kragujevac will also be exempt from paying local taxes. Giovanni de Filippis, the president of the future Fiat-Serbia company, talked with Zastava Group Director Zoran Radojević yesterday about the dynamics for infrastructure projects in Kragujevac needed to achieve the goal of producing 200,000 cars a year. Filippis and local officials met to discuss the concept for implementing the infrastructure work required in Kragujevac. “We agreed at the meeting how to solve the problem of roads needed to and from the Zastava complex, the section of the southern bypass, and the northern bypass was also discussed, as well as the railway. It was agreed that the roads would be precisely defined next week and then the plans would be given to the local administration for adoption,” Radojević told B92. Preparations for moving the machines from the production halls of the factory are already under way. Zastava experts are working on the project together with experts from Fiat, who arrived in Kragujevac last week. “We expect another larger group of experts to arrive next week. About another 100 people from Fiat will be involved in tacking the infrastructure jobs in Zastava, as well as the preparations for installing the new technology. The first jobs we’ll begin next week will be manual work on equipment that has been out of action for years. The de-installation of the machines will begin there,” Radojević said. Filippis did not want to give any comment, but said that he would be making a full, detailed statement on all the work being done in late October.
