ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration is preparing a summary in which the administration, through the Ministry of Interior, will seek the prime minister’s approval to increase ICT’s annual budget to Rs2.8bn using taxes generated by the city, sources in the administration have said.

Islamabad generates Rs4.6 billion in taxes through its excise and taxation and revenue departments every year, but this tax revenue goes directly to the national exchequer rather than being spent on the city’s development.

Sources have said that the local administration is trying to achieve the goal set by Prime Minister Imran Khan – who has taken an interest in the capital’s development – to turn Islamabad into a model city, but requires additional funding, stronger departments and new posts to do so.

The annual budget of Islamabad is currently Rs1.3bn, sources in the ICT administration said. If approved, this would be incorporated in the 2019-20 budgetary proposal.

Islamabad requires more funding, stronger departments and new posts to achieve PM’s vision for a model city, sources say

An official who has attended several meetings with Chief Commissioner Amer Ali Ahmed aimed at making proposals to strengthen ICT departments said the meetings had discussed how the workload of the administration had increased significantly while its administrative capacity remains under-developed.

He said it had been decided to note in the summary that the population of Islamabad had risen from 120,000 in 1981 – when the ICT administration was created – to 2 million in 2018.

The official said the ICT lacks several key departments and functions that are a requisite in this day and age.

“There is no food authority, no proper cooperative department despite there being several housing societies being managed by a part-time registrar, no forest department despite there being several thousand acres under forest cover,” the officialsaid, adding that several existing departments are understaffed or have not been modernised, such as the excise and taxation department, which is resulting in a huge loss of revenue.

The officials involved in preparing the summary said Mr Khan and the federal government want to make Islamabad a model city, but this endeavour requires the creation of new posts and a budget.

“With this objective defined by the government, the ICT administration is proposing a two-pronged intervention: the creation of new posts and budgetary requirements, and enhanced revenue collection to support this budgetary requirement as taxes collected through the revenue and excise and taxation department is not reimbursed to the ICT administration,” an officer said, adding that this would be reflected in the summary.

Additional costs incurred in the restructuring of ICT offices would be met by increased revenue collection by the excise and taxation department, the officer said. While the capital generates Rs4.6bn annually, bringing taxes in line with those in the provinces would increase this figure to Rs6.7bn.

Sources said the summary will seek government approval to increase taxes in line with the provinces, create 316 additional posts, increase the annual budget to Rs2.8bn and introduce performance base monetary incentives equivalent to one basic pay in addition to regular salaries for employees of the excise and taxation, food, cooperatives and forest departments.

Sources said the one-time expenditure of Rs300 million on infrastructure development would either be utilised later for the development of Islamabad or reimbursed to the treasury.

“After a number of meetings and on the directive of the chief commissioner, we have prepared a draft summary which, after the final touches, would be sent to the Ministry of Interior in a couple of days for onward submission to the Prime Minister’s Office,” said an ICT officer, who asked not to be named.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2019