The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

With the failure to achieve last fiscal year's revenue target Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is going to announce Tk 1,009.41 crore-budget for the 2008-09 financial year at Mahanagr Natyamancha in the city today.

The budget for the outgoing 2007-08 fiscal was Tk 1401.88 crore, which was slashed to Tk 717.57 crore as the DCC missed its revenue earning targets. Mayor of DCC Sadeque Hossain Khoka will announce the budget repeating his previous years' pledge that there will be no new tax on city dwellers, according to the DCC officials.

This will be his seventh budget since he took over as the city mayor on May 14, 2002.

Instead of imposing fresh taxes, the DCC would try to plug revenue loopholes to collect funds for the development programmes to make city life comfortable, said DCC officials.

The DCC earns tax and revenues from holding, lighting and conservancy, trade licences, advertisement, road digging, rickshaw licences, markets and community centres.

Holding tax is the single biggest source of revenue as the DCC earned Tk 176 crore in the 2007-08 fiscal year, trailing the target of Tk 255 crore, according to DCC officials.

A sum of Tk 100 crore is expected from the government's block allocation, Tk 100 crore as especial allocation and Tk 242 crore either from the government or foreign sources and private investments, and Tk 9 crore from others.

DCC expected government's special allocation of Tk 45.05 crore in the 2007-08 fiscal. But the actual allocation is likely to be less than half The government's especial allocation was only Tk 6.20 crore against the target of Tk 150 crore.

The DCC also failed to generate expected funds from projects and private sector in 2007-08 fiscal. It has so far collected Tk 187.73 crore against the target of Tk 619.43 crore, largely because of stalled development works involving huge private and project funds, said the officials.

The target for the new budget from these areas has been set at Tk 242.90 crore.

In the upcoming budget, the DCC set an expenditure target of Tk 979.41 crore. Of the amount, Tk 692.90 crore will account for development activities. In the 2007-08 fiscal it could spend only Tk 443.43 crore, less than half of its targeted development expenditure of Tk 1098.91 crore.

The allocation for mosquito control programmes for the next year would remain the same at Tk 15 crore.

The revenue income in 2008-09 is expected to total Tk 527.51 crore up from Tk 478.45 crore during 2007-08 fiscal.

DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka announced his first budget of Tk 677.34 crore for 2002-03 fiscal year, followed by Tk 762.96 crore, Tk 922.01 crore, Tk 1247.72 crore, Tk 1505.85 and Tk 1401.88 in successive years.