The outgoing mayor of Sylhet City Corporation, Ariful Haque Chowdhury, on Thursday placed a budget of Tk 925.5 crore for the current fiscal year expressing his resentment and frustration for not getting expected allocation from the government during his tenure.
‘Though unpleasant but it was true that in some cases I was extremely disappointed. I have been trying to install a surface water treatment plant in the city since 2014 but no response from the ministry yet,’ Arif, also an advisor to the chairperson of main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, said in a press conference at Chandirpool in the city.
Everything of the project, including acquisition of 13 acre land at Barashala area for setting up the plant with a capacity of 5 crore litres water per day from the River Sari, had been completed and sent to the ministry, but no progress in 9 years, he added.
‘The corporation will be able to earn Tk 123.4 crore from its own resources in this fiscal year, if city dwellers pay the holding tax and other amenity charges regularly,’ Arif hoped.
According to the proposed budget, Tk 48.35 crore will come from holding tax, Tk 25 crore from transfer fees of permanent wealth, Tk 10.45 crore from issuance and renewal of trade licences, Tk 5 crore from renting the corporation assets including shops, Tk 8.2 crore from the monthly charges of drinking water supply as well as issuance and renewal of the water supply line connection, and Tk 2.5 crore from the fees for issuance license to install tube-wells. Besides, Tk 526.51 crore would be received from deferent grants of organisations which are development partners of the government.
Major sectors of expenditure in the budget are – to construct and repair infrastructures of the SCC including to buy a flat in Dhaka for setting up its liaison office, to maintain the healthcare services, social welfare activities for the city dwellers, maintaining drinking water supply and paying electricity bill.
