Cars entering Dhaka may have to pay tax
Proposal made in DNCC budget
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) yesterday announced a Tk 1,984.53 crore budget for 2013-2014 fiscal year, proposing to reintroduce a scheme of tax-collection from vehicles entering the capital.
Akhtar Hossain Bhuiyan, administrator of DNCC, unveiled the budget at a programme at Spectra Convention Centre with no rise in holding tax.
He said there was a system of collecting city tax from vehicles in 1980s. But it was later abolished after Tk 2.50 crore more was allotted for the city corporation's budget from the government's block allocation.
The allocation had been reduced in the last 30 years and currently it stands at Tk 80 lakh per year, Akhtar said.
The DNCC could earn more than Tk 100 crore every year from city tax if their proposal is approved by the government, he added.
The DNCC will speed up the collection process of holding tax, the single largest source of the city corporation's total revenue, the administrator said.
The city corporation has a target to earn Tk 388 crore from holding tax. It realised Tk 228 crore in 2012-2013 fiscal year, though the target was set at Tk 288 crore.
The DNCC aims to earn Tk 746.55 crore in revenue in the current fiscal year. It earned Tk 443.35 crore in the last fiscal year against a target of Tk 482.75 crore.
For maintenance and development of roads and traffic infrastructure, the budget has Tk 236 crore, up from Tk 203.27 crore in the previous fiscal.
It has kept Tk 41.76 crore for construction work of Mirpur-Cantonment by-pass road, development of Ceramic road at Mirpur-12 and drains and roads at South Pallabi, and Tk 50 crore for expanding roads and constructing drain and footpath in Uttara.
The administrator also announced an allocation of Tk 50 crore to construct a road from Mirpur Darussalam (Ansar Camp) to Kachukhet and Tk 26 crore for a road from Beribandh to Mohammadpur Bus Stoppage.
The budget also kept Tk 50 crore to construct grade separator on roads at underpass or overpass to reduce traffic congestion in Gulshan-1 and 2 areas.
For setting up two graveyards at Mirpur and Aftabnagar, the DNCC has allocated Tk 30 crore, and for mosquito control, it has Tk 9 crore, up from Tk 8.55 crore in the previous year.
It has allocated Tk 17.80 crore for waste management, which is Tk 2.20 crore less than the previous fiscal.
For development of park and playground, the budget has Tk 4 crore, which is Tk 1.30 crore more than the previous year.
The DNCC expects to receive an amount of Tk 1132.49 crore from the government, foreign finance and private sector investment, said the administrator.
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