News Desk : dhakamirror.com
The Sylhet City Corporation on Monday placed a budget of Tk 1,040.2 crore for the ongoing financial year 2022-23 – a Tk 191 crore more than what was budgeted a year ago.
SCC mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury announced the budget in a press conference held at a party centre in the city’s Baluchar area.
‘We have tried our best to prepare a realistic budget keeping balance between the heads of expenditure and income of the city authority,’ he said in his budget speech.
‘The city corporation would be able to earn Tk 101.10 crore from its own resources in this financial year if residents pay holding tax and other charges regularly.’
The civil society, however, termed the budget something like an ‘old wine in the new bottle’ since there is nothing exceptional in it.
Stating that the area of the Sylhet city has been extended to 59.5 square kilometres from 26.5 square kilometres in the past financial year, the mayor said that a number of wards had also been increased to 42 from 27.
According to the proposed budget, Tk 45.2 crore will come from holding tax, Tk 16 crore from transfer fees of permanent wealth, Tk 2 crore from construction fees of privately owned commercial and residential buildings, Tk 8.5 crore from
trade licence issuance and renewal fees, Tk 7.5 crore from drinking water supply fees and Tk 2 crore from licence issuance fees for installation of tube wells.
Major sectors of expenditure include construction and repair to SCC infrastructures, purchase of an apartment in Dhaka for setting up its liaison office, construction of a slaughter house and renovation of bus terminals and garbage dumping ground in the city.
The mayor said that Tk 480 crore would come from government allocation to ensure civic amenities including pure drinking water supply, removing water stagnation, purchasing machinery to improve garbage management system, and expanding Sylhet Nagar Bhaban vertically.
Representatives of different professional bodies and SCC ward councilors and officials, including its chief executive officer Bidhayak Roy Chowdhury, chief engineer Nur Azizur Rahman, secretary Fahima Yeasmeen, among others, attended the programme.
