The DCC set a Tk 478.45 crore revenue earning target for the current fiscal year despite failure in achieving income and expenditure targets of the previous budget.

It also announced an ambitious expenditure target of Tk 1,356.88 crore though it could spend only Tk 801 crore in the last fiscal year.

The city dwellers have to suffer a lot from mosquito menace this year, as the city corporation seems to have little plan for mosquito control.

This year the DCC allocated Tk 15 crore for mosquito control as it did the previous year.

A Tk 1098.91 crore development expenditure has been set on expectation that the government and other development agencies will finance different projects.

According to the budget, Tk 100 crore will come from the government block allocation, Tk 150 crore from special allocation, Tk 619.43 crore from either the government or foreign funded projects and private investments, and Tk 9 crore from other sectors.

In his budget speech, DCC Mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka reemphasised formation of a metropolitan government to meet the requirements of the city dwellers in a more convenient way.

"I hope the present government will take a positive step to that end," the mayor said during the budget session held at Mohanagar Natya Mancha at Gulistan.

He said the DCC would intensify drive for tax collection and widen the tax net.

Khoka said corruption has been prevailing in several department of the city corporation since the British era and it is not anybody's job to remove corruption from the DCC offices overnight.

He also urged the government to draw a plan for Dhaka for the next 50 years.

Holding tax is the single largest source of revenue earnings for the DCC. This year the corporation expects Tk 230 crore from holding tax. Last year, the DCC realised Tk 158 crore holding tax.

The projects, to be implemented under the government and foreign funds and private investments in the current fiscal, include Tk 30 crore landfill project at Aminbazar under solid waste management programme, Tk 85.02 crore for four wholesale kitchen market development project and Tk 300 crore for Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover.

The new budget also allocated Tk 40 crore for supermarket-cum-housing complex project at Banani and Tk 30 crore for construction of a commercial market and building at Gulshan-2.

Khoka announced his first DCC budget of Tk 677.34 crore for the 2002-03 fiscal year, followed by Tk 762.96 crore, Tk 922.01 crore, Tk 1,247.72 crore and Tk 1,505 crore for the following years.