With the increasing frequency and severity of natural catastrophes a growing concern for property customers, the updated PPP coverage makes additional deductible options available to allow more flexibility for risk management strategies and budgeting for climate-related events, Zurich said.
Other enhancements include new decontamination expense, loss prevention expense, and worldwide mobile communications property coverage. Better Green – a coverage that aims to increase building efficiency and reduce environmental impact – is now automatically included via sublimit. The policy’s extended period of sublimit also now includes overhead transmission and distribution lines – previously optional – as part of the base coverage.
The new PPP form features simplified language and improved formatting for easier readability and customization, Zurich said. Changes include user-friendly streamlining. Several coverages have changed from premises-based to occurrence-based triggers, and some coverages have been renamed to be more consistent with standard industry usage.
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“For more than 17 years, Zurich Property Portfolio Protection has provided an expansive policy solution to help mid-sized businesses protect their property and their operations,” said John Mizzi, head of industry practices for US middle market at Zurich North America. “With this update, we’re showing that we’re not just listening to our customers and brokers, we’re taking action to make doing business with us easier as risks they face grow more complex.”
In conjunction with the PPP update, Zurich is launching the Summit Package, which combines PPP and general liability insurance with industry-specific enhancements. The Summit Package includes multiple, frequently requested coverages in a single coverage endorsement, Zurich said.
“Zurich has become an industry-leading carrier for middle-market insureds,” said Alex Wells, head of US middle market at Zurich. “With the Summit Package, we’re providing another path to greater efficiency for middle-market customers and the distributors who work with them. Combining our Property Portfolio Protection – a preferred form for our customers and insureds – and general liability coverages will allow many customers to simplify their strategies for greater overall protection for their companies.”
The PPP update and the Summit Package are available now for new business and will be available for renewals starting May 1, subject to filing and approval and qualification.
Zurich also recently launched a climate-related offering for commercial clients and partnered with Innovative Captive Strategies to create a captive for sustainability-minded companies.
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For this, SMC will develop a cell in which its experienced officers and those who have recently retired will join. SMC will provide assistance to civic bodies from planning to execution of infrastructure projects and their completion.
“SMC has executed many big projects successfully and our officers have enough experience. We are aiming to share our experience with other civic bodies in India and abroad,” said municipal commissioner Shalini Agarwal.
SMC’s projects like flyovers, tertiary treatment plants and solid waste management have become model projects. “Delegations from many cities of different countries have visited the city to see the city’s growth. We are now planning to assist these cities in a professional manner,” added Agarwal.
SMC has been paying hefty consultation fees to various expert agencies, including engineering institutes, for their technical know-how. Now using the knowledge of previously executed projects, SMC will guide its clients to plan a project, prepare tender and execute it with high technical accuracy.
Apart from collecting taxes and getting government grants, SMC generate its own income through distribution of treated water and PPP projects. But the amount is small. SMC officials believe that they will be in position to get more funding from the government if the income of the civic body increases further.
The notice was served on Friday, just nine days before the stadium is to host the second T20 international match between India and New Zealand on January 29. The tax arrears were detected during a GIS (Geographical Information System) survey commissioned by the LMC, the report of which was compiled a fortnight ago.
The GIS survey has revealed that the stadium – spread across 35 acres of land near Shaheed Path in Gomtinagar – has not registered for commercial tax ever since it came under the LMC’s jurisdiction in 2020.
Tax collection is a major source of revenue for the LMC and efforts will be made to collect the arrears at the earliest. If the dues are not cleared, strict action will be initiated as per the law,” municipal commissioner Inderjit Singh said. Chief taxation officer (CTO), LMC, Ashok Singh, said according to the GIS survey report, Ekana authorities should pay Rs 1.64 crore per year as commercial tax. “As per the defined rules, the stadium administration will have to pay commercial tax for two financial years –2020- 2021 and 2021- 2022.
The total amounts to around Rs 3.28 crore,” he said. “We have served a notice for the arrears to the stadium administration on Friday asking them to clear the outstanding amount. The stadium administration has raised an objection saying that the assessment has been done wrongly. They have 30 days from the day of serving the notice to clarify their stand, else, action will follow,” he said. Ekana Sports City‘s chief managing director Uday Sinha confirmed that LMC had issued a notice to the stadium. “I got the notice but the assessment is incorrect as the stadium was built on both government and private property on private-public partnership (PPP) model.
In such a situation, the assessment should be done of the private property and not of the stadium as a whole,” he said. “We will pay the commercial tax of private land. I have already raised an objection and we will pay the tax when the assessment is rectified,” he added. According to the LMC, the GIS survey was introduced in 2019 in view of problems that surfaced during assessment of area of a property for taxation purposes. The survey involves the analysis of geographically referenced information of a property available digitally