346. With regards to the Foreign Expertise and Technical Assistance Scheme, 30 people have
been trained in banana fibre transformation and Madhubani Art. In addition to the above figures,
some 150 people have also benefitted from technical training in Aquaponics.
347. A National Entrepreneurship Campaign was undertaken by SME Mauritius entailing 26
campaigns, with a view to bringing a new dynamism to the sector and disseminating information
on SME products and services. Over 2,000 potential entrepreneurs were targeted, whereby some
30 sensitization campaigns were conducted over the island with 12 radio programmes slots on
topics of interest to SME’s, 6 Workshops, 10 Talks, and 30 focused meetings.
348. An SME Portal is one among the high impact initiatives recommended in the 10-Year Master
Plan to boost and promote the development of small and medium enterprises by creating an EPlatform for SMEs. Phase I, II, III have already been completed and SME portal will be officially
launched shortly after final fine tuning.
349. It is to be noted that around 50% of the 86 recommendations of the Master Plan have been
initiated while 23% have been implemented as at June 2019.
350. Regarding the suspension of trade fees up to Rs 5,000, some 85% of entrepreneurs have
already benefitted from exemption of trade fees from Local Authorities.
FACILITATING ACCESS TO HOUSING
351. A first time buyer of a plot of land to build a house is eligible for duty free exemption on a
land value of up to Rs 2.5 M. A first time buyer of a house or apartment of up to Rs 5 million is
eligible for full exemption from registration duty as announced in the budget 2019/2020.
352. Citizens can also benefit from the VAT Refund Scheme on the construction of their residence
or the purchase of an apartment. The upper limit for the cost of construction of a residence or the
purchase price of an apartment has been increased from Rs 4 million to Rs 5 million and the eligible
household income threshold was increased from Rs 2 million to Rs 3.5 million.
353. Low income families are ensured of a decent social housing at a decent and affordable cost
through the construction by Government of housing units. Provision of service plots is made
available to lower-middle income group for housing purposes. Moreover, the provision of a grant
for casting of roof slab to low income families.
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