Total budget of two Dhaka city corporations is insufficient considering the population at grassroots level although it seems that the budgetary allocation has increased.
The budgets are presented traditionally, mainly focusing on infrastructures. But there should have check and balance between the development and maintenance budgets.
The budgets of the two city corporations for the fiscal year 2019-20 are mostly dependent on sectoral allocation and government and foreign fund-based projects which is not a healthy one.
The city corporation authorities should prepare the budgets by involving the community people to know the situation of the wards and needs of that area, reflecting the expectations of the citizens of those wards.
Besides, there must be a specific ward profiling, ward level liveability index and an investment plan based on the ward level capital investment plan (CIP) while preparing the budgets.
The suggestions came at a press conference on the proposed budget for the FY 2019-20 of the two city corporations. Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) organized the press briefing at its office in the city on Saturday.
BIP general secretary Adil Mohammed Khan read a press statement at the press conference on 'Review of the budgets of Dhaka North and South City Corporations for the FY 2019-20'.
In his presentation, Mr Adil said the city corporation budget should incorporate the budget guidelines in its long-term vision while the budget should be prepared in line with the organizational target, ensuring incorporation of views and opinions of the stakeholders and sustainable and effective development.
But none of the two city corporations mentioned why they are allocating which amount of fund and for whom, he said. Both the budgets are heavily dependent on sector-wise allocation which are not participatory and do not represent the people, he added.
The area-wise allocation is absent along with the description of the sector-wise allocation, said the prominent planner.
"It was found by analyzing the previous budget that expected fund for the government and foreign assistance-based projects were not generated. Besides, the level of implementation of the previous projects and their qualitative assessment is also absent," he noted.
The mayor must be well aware of ward level roads, drainage system and an overall scenario from the councillors before placing the budget to equitably allocate budget as per necessity, Mr Adil said.
"We have seen how weak the primary healthcare system of the city corporations is during the recent outbreak of dengue. But the two city corporations have allocated only Tk 30-40 million for 20 million citizens which is inadequate."
Citing an example of the budget mapping of Portland city in the USA, Mr Ail said there is a ward level allocation where local allocation and a citywide allocation is mentioned. Besides, in that ward budget mapping, how much a user will get is also mentioned.
BIP vice president Akter Mahmud said it is very usual that the local level budget will reflect the expectations of local citizens.
But both the budgets of the two city corporations are very much conventional with sectoral allocation and having no innovation. There should be spatial allocation based on the needs and demand of the areas and people, he added.
He said Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) placed a Tk 35.98 billion budget for 2018-19 but ultimately could implement only 52 per cent as they could not achieve the revenue target. On the other hand, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) placed a Tk 25.67 billion budget but could implement only 70 per cent.
There is no practice of operation and maintenance budget in the country, he observed. There should be a ward profiling to set the next course of action and demand for allocation in the budget, Mr Akter added.
The budgets are heavily dependent on the government and foreign assistance projects which is conflicting as the city corporations should prepare the budgets on their own revenue sources, he said. For that he suggested increasing the capacity to generate revenue from own sources.
BIP president Prof Abul Kalam said a budget is a document to coordinate between the income and expenditure. But there is a significant difference between the proposed and revised budget of the two city corporations as they cannot generate expected level of revenue.
"The gap in income has resulted in less development of the city. The city corporations must focus on increasing incomes from their own sources," he said.
He also suggested assessment of property and other taxes after regular gap to implement the full budget.
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