The mayors of Narayanganj and Gazipur City Corporations at a programme on Sunday expressed different opinions about tax collection.
Local government minister Tazul Islam was present at the programme as the chief guest.
Seeking his suggestions, Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) Mayor Dr Salina Hayat Ivy said citizens were not interested to pay city tax. They showed marked reluctance to pay tax after the outbreak of Covid-19.
"Although they do not pay city tax, they regularly pay electricity bill as they know their power supply line will be disconnected if they default on bill payment. But we cannot take any legal measures in the same manner."
She said the city corporation had got two sweeping machines from which the citizens were getting benefits. She also requested the minister to increase the number of sweeping machines.
The observations came at a seminar on ''Beyond Covid-19: City Corporation (Local Govt) Fiscal Space' under the capacity development of city corporation project at a city hotel.
However, Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) Mayor Jahangir Alam said when he took charge the amount of fund was Tk 500 million. After the Covid-19 outbreak, the city corporation had been able to increase it to Tk 1.0 billion in six months (July-December) during the pandemic with support of JICA. This year the corporation had been working to earn more city tax.
"We want to enhance our capacity. But we do not have that space. That's why we want planned development in the city corporation area. We need to set up hospitals, markets and educational institutions in each ward," he added.
Mr Tazul Islam said citizens would be more interested to pay tax if 'citizen services are ensured'. Calling upon the local institutions to be more pro-people, he suggested that the city corporations take multiple measures to be self-reliant financially.
He also called upon the mayors to play their role in collecting city tax by getting more involved with public.
"When people will know that you will construct roads and clean them, there will be no dust and mosquito, garbage will be managed, health and education will be ensured along with social security, they will be liable to pay city tax," said the minister.
In another programme, Rajshahi WASA and a Chinese company signed an agreement on 'Installation of Surface Water Treatment Plant' at Rajshahi City Corporation in presence of the local government minister.
Rajshahi WASA managing director Sultan Abdul Hamid and representative of Chinese Hunan Construction Engineering Group Co Ltd signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations. The four-year project would cost Tk 40.62 billion.
The government of Bangladesh would provide Tk 17.48 billion and Hunan company Tk 23.13 billion.
The citizens of Rajshahi would get 20 mld water and the whole region would be covered with piped water supply by 2035.
The infrastructure project is part of the six MoUs signed between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the latter's visit to Bangladesh in 2016.
