GRA halts two helicopter 'gifts' to KNUST over unpaid taxes - Report

The aerospace engineering department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) may miss out on taking delivery of two helicopters being donated by PHI Century Ltd for practical lessons to improve their ability to train young aeronautical engineers over the Ghana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) insistence that full taxes be paid for the two equipment that are no longer airworthy.

The two old helicopters were initially brought into the country by PHI Century Limited a joint venture between PHI Aviation and Century Aviation Company Limited to support the requirement for transportation to offshore drilling rigs and production platforms offshore at Cape Three Points in the Western Region. At the time of their importation, they were rated as tax-free since they were to be exported once they had performed their assigned duties.

As the two pieces of equipment have aged, PHI Century, instead of transporting them back to the US and gifting them to an aviation school in the US for practical purposes, offered to gift the two helicopters for the training of aerospace engineers at KNUST.

The Ghana Revenue Authority, however, wants KNUST to pay thousands of cedis in taxes to be able to receive the two helicopters for academic use and for the benefit of the new School of Aeronautical Studies at KNUST.

“These are equipment that the aerospace engineering unit of KNUST lack and would greatly help them, instead of going to gift them to a school in the US,” an aviation expert with knowledge of the issue confirmed this to AviationGhana.com.

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