DNCC announces Tk 16.02b budget

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) mayor Annisul Huq Wednesday announced a Tk 16.02 billion (1602 crore) budget for the FY 2015-16, the first one in his five-year term, with main focus on turning Dhaka city into a green, automated and clean city.
He also announced the revised budget of Tk 8.03 billion for the last fiscal year (FY) 2014-15.
The new budget is Tk 4.38 billion less than that of last fiscal and Tk 8.0 billion higher than the revised budget of the last fiscal.
A press conference was organised in this connection at a community centre of the DNCC in Uttara in the city. Mr Annisul Huq announced the budget while the elected councilors and DNCC chief executive officer BM Enamul Haque were present along with other executives.
In his speech, Mr Annisul Huq said this budget will not hike any tax but will equalise the present holding tax which was never revised after 1989.
The budget targets to earn Tk 8.82 billion against Tk 8.10 billion in the last budget and Tk 5.21 billion in the revised budget. The total development expenditure has been fixed at Tk 11.44 billion, up from Tk 4.73 billion of the revised budget.
Major sources of income will be Tk 4.10 billion from holding tax, Tk 1.60 billion as bazar selami, Tk 140 million as market rents, Tk 400 million as trade licence fees, Tk 1.30 billion from asset transfer, Tk 160 million from advertisements, Tk 100 million from bus-truck terminal, Tk 450 million from road excavation fees, Tk 120 million from electricity bills, among others.
"If there is no major legal complication, the holding tax will be equalised and the revenue from the sector will go up by next year," said the mayor.
Besides, the city corporation expects Tk 4.76 billion as project assistance from development partners and Tk 90 million as block allocation and Tk 550 million as special assistance from the government.
In the budget, Tk 3.36 billion has been allocated for the government-supported and development partner-assisted projects. A total of Tk 3.10 billion has been allocated as the corporation's operational expenditure. An increased allocation of Tk 220 million was kept for Dhaka city infrastructure development project of the city corporation which was Tk 142 million in the revised budget. For sustainable environment project Tk 250 million has been allocated while Tk 450 million for city regional development project (ADB funded), Tk 88.4 million for road maintenance and beautification of the adjacent roads at Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Tk 411 million for Uttara Ideal Town roads and drain development and  maintenance, Tk 1.0 billion for urban resilience project (URC-World Bank funded) and Tk 247 million for widening and improvement of East-West Link Road, drains and footpaths from Rokeya Sarani to Ganobhaban, Tk 500 million for improvement of urban roads in DNCC, Tk 500 million for construction of multi-storied cleaners' complex at Gabtoli, Tk 228 million for improvement and maintenance of roads, drains and footpaths at Mirpur area, Tk 146 million for Sector II Beribadh link bridge at Uttara.
Referring to the revised budget which was finally downsized to one-third of the budget last year, Mr Annisul Huq said as the elected representatives they can assure that the same will not be repeated this year as their focus is very sharp.  
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