Khulna City Corporation announces Tk 5.04b budget

Khulna City Corporation (KCC) mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque on Wednesday announced over Tk 5.04 billion (504.31 crore) budget for 2020-2021 fiscal year, reports BSS.

He announced the annual budget at a press conference held at Nagar Bhaban’s Shaheed Altaf Auditorium in the city maintaining health guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic.

No new tax has been imposed in the budget like previous years.

This year’s budget is not the biggest in size like last year. On 24 July 2019 the mayor announced the biggest ever budget since the establishment of the city corporation in 1984, putting special emphasis on water logging, infrastructure improvement, digitalisation and sanitation.

Mayor Khaleque said the proposed budget for 2019-2020 fiscal was Tk 865.54 crore but it has been revised at Tk 582.72 crore.

“We didn’t fulfil our development goals and some obstacles have also been created to achieve the target of budget (2019-20FY) due to the global coronavirus pandemic,” Khaleque said.

Despite the COVID-19 situation, KCC has achieved 67.32 per cent development works of the 2019-2020 FY targets, he added.

Highlighting the overview of the ongoing and proposed development projects of the city corporation, he stated that the budget has been formulated for expanding civic services.

At the function, he said two major projects on infrastructure developments including the city’s important damaged roads and drainage system repairing and development are being implemented at a cost of around Tk 1431.36 crore.

“We’ve planned 10 more need-based projects with an estimated cost of around Tk 101 crore,” he added.

Three development projects have already been completed in last fiscal year, he said, adding that without dredging of the Rupsha and Bhairab rivers, waterlogging problem of the city would not be removed despite eviction of illegal structures by the 22 canals.

In the budget, the KCC has fixed a target of revenue earning to the tune of Tk 166.96 crore from own sources.

Khulna-2 constituency MP Sheikh Salahuddin Jewel virtually joined the conference from the capital while KCC councilorand it’s Finance and Establishment Standing Committee president Sheikh Md Gausul Azam presided over the programme.

KCC chief executive officer Palash Kanti Bala delivered the welcome speech and screened a video documentation on development works of the KCC.

Panel mayors, councilors, leaders of different professional bodies, media personnel, among others, were present in the programme.