The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has set a new record in revenue collection as its annual income reached Tk879.65 crore in 2021-2022 fiscal year, nearly double that of FY2019-20 when Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh took charge as the mayor.
He now hopes that the income will cross the Tk1,000-crore mark by this year as the DSCC has set a Tk1,266.50-crore target in the current fiscal year.
“We’re planning to generate Tk450 crore from holding tax and Tk150 crore from trade licence fees – two vital sources of income of the city corporation,” Taposh told reporters during a briefing at the Nagar Bhaban on Thursday.
“Thanks to the tireless efforts of our councillors and officers, we have been able to lay the foundations of a better Dhaka in the last two years, to meet the expectations of residents,” the mayor said, describing his dream projects that require five times the annual budget of the city corporation.
The revised budget was Tk1,923 crore against the proposed Tk6,119.56 crore last year. The budget for the current fiscal is Tk6,741.28 crore.
According to budget documents, Tk5,608.62 crore has been set aside for annual development programs. However, the DSCC can manage only Tk792.53 crore from its own sources.
The DSCC will ask for Tk4,816 crore from the government and different development partners to meet the budget of the mega projects.
The annual operation cost of the DSCC is around Tk450 crore.
“We have surplus income over our operating cost. Now we can take up various projects to make Dhaka a livable city without the assistance of the government. We are not dependent now,” said the mayor.
Fund crunch strangles projects
The DSCC’s proposed projects include the construction of the Central Commercial District (CCD) and the 50-storey Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Convention Center at Kamrangirchar.
But against Tk200 crore required to implement the CCD, the city corporation has allocated Tk31 crore in the current fiscal year, and Tk10 crore for the Tk248.71-crore convention center which will house a five-star hotel and a world standard shopping mall.
Apart from these, the DSCC has submitted another project worth Tk898.93 crore to the Local Government Division (LGD) on the beautification of Dhaka’s canals.
The DSCC is also mulling an eco-smart city at Fakirkhali of the city and has allocated Tk25 crore to develop the Old Buriganga channel by installing public facilities.
“It is true there is a fund crisis regarding the implementation of the projects,” said Mayor Taposh. But he also hoped that the “Canal Recovering and Beautification Project” will be approved by Ecnec within this year.