RAWALPINDI: TMA earns Rs33.5m by auctioning site plans
By Baqir Sajjad Syed
RAWALPINDI, Nov 9: The Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) has earned Rs33.5 million through auctioning contract for approval of building site plans.
The TMA, through departmental collection, has already collected Rs9 million for the first three months. The auction of the contract has earned the TMA Rs33.5 million for the remaining nine months of the current fiscal year. Therefore, the municipal administration officials claimed that the building department earned a total of Rs47.5 million this year.
The department’s income has almost been doubled, the officials said.
The fee for the approval of the site plan was earlier collected by the TMA itself. Last year, the department earned Rs26 million, out of which the employees’ salaries were also paid. Now, the contractor will have to pay the salaries of the building department staff.
The department employees were against outsourcing of the contract as it was a major means of earning kickbacks and commissions.
“With the outsourcing of the contract for approval of the site plan, we have closed a major avenue of corruption in the municipal authority”, a senior TMA official said.
The TMA has also outsourced three other new local taxes to generate more revenue for local development projects. The new taxes are lighting tax, TV cable tax and Bakra Mandi tax, besides, some other older taxes.
It is being anticipated that the revenue generation of the TMA would increase by almost Rs50 million as compared to that of the last fiscal year.
This, the officials said, would be possible because of revision of the tax structure and levying of new taxation, and above all through curtailing corrupt practices. The lighting tax has been outsourced for Rs10 million.
According to the rates schedule, shops would be charged Rs100 per year, private schools and factories Rs500 per annum and hotels and restaurants Rs250 to Rs500 annually.
The TV cable tax was auctioned for almost Rs0.175 million. The contract for collection of Bakra Mandi tax could fetch Rs five million. This contract has been awarded for the next three years.
The weekly Cattle Fair Channi Alam Sher tax collection contract for nine months has been awarded for Rs10 million.
The Ganj Mandi Slaughter House contract went for Rs5.2 million for the remaining part of this fiscal year. Last year, this contract was auctioned for Rs2.5 million, which means revenue from this source would also be doubled.
Revenue for the fiscal year 2001-2 was estimated at Rs246.7 million, however, this estimation during the revised budgetary figures was enhanced to Rs312.295 million, which was again raised by another Rs30 million, the TMA officials said.
Besides this expected raise in revenues, senior TMA officials said, non-developmental expenses had been reduced from Rs220 million incurred during last fiscal year to Rs180 million.
