The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Adviser Anwarul Iqbal yesterday said Upazila polls will be held soon under the new ordinance and for which the Election Commission (EC) has been working.

He was addressing a national workshop "Resource Mobilisation of Union Parishad" at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel in the capital where findings of a study on "Local Revenue Sources for Union Parishad" conducted by Prof Nick Devas of University of Birmingham were revealed.

Among others, Secretary of Local Government Division Shaikh Khurshid Alam, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of European Commission HE Dr Stefan Frowein, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Bangladesh Renata Dessallien addressed it. Nojibur Rahman, Joint Secretary of Local Government Division, chaired it.

Anwarul Iqbal also said the government is in the final stage of formulating Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)-2, which outlines the strategic directions and approaches to address the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"The ordinances of all the tiers of local government bodies have been updated considering present perspective and as of date City Corporations, Paurashavas and Upazila Parishad Ordinance 2008 have been enacted and implemented," he added.

Stressing on decentralisation and strengthening of the local governments, he said that a proper designed decentralization scheme could also create a conductive environment for solving key development and governance problems at the local level.

The study recommended that reform in revenue instruments of the Union Parishad (UP) and its administration will help the Ups to play vital role for local development, poverty reduction and the achievement of the MDGs.

The study pointed out that participation of community people in the process of revenue mobilisation would help ensuring transparency, accountability as well as efficiency of improved service delivery by the UPs.

To ensure the efficient administration of revenue instruments, the study recommended reform in three specific areas-the design of the existing revenue system, improving the administration of existing revenue and additional revenue collection.

The study identified the earning from hat, bazaars and water bodies as potential sources of revenue and recommended administration of these sectors by the UP, together with the revenue from those sectors.

Other major recommendations of the study include- increase of tax and license fee in line with inflation, a simplified mass appraisal system using clear and consistent criteria for assessment of holding tax and business tax, introduction of modern record system to identify the tax payer and defaulters, computerisation of revenue collection and accounting system, building of public confidence in the local tax system leading to increased willingness to pay through greater transparency, accountability and community participation in utilisation of resources.

The LGD under Learning and Innovation Component (LIC) of the Local Governance Support Project (LGSP) conducted the study with financial and technical support from United Nation Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).