The Dhaka North City Corporation on Wednesday announced its budget of Tk 1,984.53 crore for 2013-14 fiscal, Tk 279.32 crore higher than that of the outgoing fiscal.
The DNCC administrator, Akhter Hossain Bhuiyan, announced the budget at the Spectra Convention Centre auditorium in the capital.Akhter Hossain said they had set a target of collecting Tk 746.55 crore revenue from its own resources. In the outgoing fiscal the target was Tk 482.75 crore.
The corporation expects to earn Tk 388 crore from holding taxes and Tk 130 crore as revenues from city markets.
In the outgoing fiscal the corporation expected to earn Tk 288 crore from holding tax and Tk 15 crore from city markets.
About the increased revenue earning the administrator said they were trying to bring the tax payers who did not pay tax in the last fiscal under the corporation’s ‘net’.
The corporation’s chief executive officer, BM Enamul Haque, said it was necessary to increase the rate of holding tax in different areas.
The corporation expected to earn Tk 110 crore from estate exchange sector, Tk 40 crore from road excavation fees, Tk 25 crore from trade licences, Tk 12 crore from leasing animal markets, Tk 10 crore from advertisements, Tk 6.5 crore from markets, Tk 6.5 crore from bus-truck terminals, and Tk 6 crore from electricity bill and Tk 12.55 crore from other sectors of its own resources.
Another Tk 30.10 crore is expected to come from the corporation’s other income sectors including sale of junk items, debt related services and balance from the abolished Dhaka City Corporation.
Yet another Tk 18 crore is expected to come from government grants and special grants and Tk 1132.49 crore from projects funded by the government and donors and private-public partnership projects.
The DNCC has planned an expenditure target of Tk 1,913.16 crore under the new fiscal year.
The administrator also mentioned that they would have a closing balance of Tk 71.37 crore under the outgoing fiscal year.
Under the new budget, Tk 90 crore has been allocated for salaries, wages and allowances of the city corporation staff, Tk 35 crore for utility, namely gas, water and electricity consumption by the corporation, Tk 17.8 crore for waste management, Tk 17.1 for supply, Tk 15.25 crore for maintenance and repair and Tk 9 crore for mosquito control programme.
Akhter Hossain urged the government to increase the government’s allocation for octroi (municipality tax) from Tk 80 lakh to Tk 100 crore.
The tax was introduced in Bangladesh in 1980s. Later the government withdrew the tax and introduced an annual Tk 2.5 crore allocation which became Tk 80 lakh at present.
He also urged the government to form a police force for the city corporation to monitor its property and a master plan for Dhaka city.
The programme was attended, among others, by DNCC secretary Abu Shaheed Sheikh, chief engineer Brig General Mohamamd Abul Khayer, chief health officer Brig General Mohammad Afzalur Rahmna, chief waste management officer Bipan Kumar Saha, chief revenue officer Golam Mostafa Khan and chief accounts officer Aminul Islam.
-With New Age input
