Rs4.409b Capital Metropolitan govt budget presented and passed

PESHAWAR: Mayor Zubair Ali on Friday presented the first Rs 4.409 billion surplus budget for 2022-23 for the Capital Metropolitan Government of Peshawar which was passed by the house as well. No new tax was levied in the budget.Malik Tariq Javed presided over the session convened at the City Council.

Rs60 million was allocated for community development, Rs120 million for maintenance and repair, Rs50 million for supply and repair of streetlights and LED, Rs5 million for the supply of water coolers in public places, Rs20 million for power transformers repairs, Rs3 million for sports, Rs7.5 million for natural disasters, including dengue control, Rs114.1 million for municipal services, purchase of water tanker and hearse service.

Rs50.7 million was allocated for public spaces, including parks and waiting areas, Rs114.1 million for the construction of public toilets and sanitation in public places, Rs918.5 million for planning to secure development grants from the provincial government. The revenue estimates for 2022-23 were put at Rs4.409 million while the expenditure estimates were 4.407 million.

The Capital Metropolitan Government would collect Rs478.4 million from bus terminals, Rs397 million from rents, Rs9.6 million from washrooms, Rs440 million from property transfer, Rs44 million from building plan approval, Rs53 million from colleges and school fees, Rs7.7

million from slaughterhouses, Rs38.3 million from advertisements (signboards), UIP tax 400 million and Rs316 million from octroi.

It would spend Rs1.19 billion to pay salaries, Rs770 million for pension disbursement, Rs20 million for POL purchase and Rs120 million to pay for electricity bills.

Speaking on the occasion, the mayor thanked all the members of the council for their support to pass the surplus budget.

He hoped that they would extend the support and cooperation in implementing the budget for the development of the provincial capital.

Talking to reporters after the budget, he said no new tax had been levied in the first budget presented by the Capital Metropolitan Government.

He asked the KP government to rethink the plan to hand over the General Bus Stand to the Peshawar Development Authority as that would affect the local government revenue generation, including payment of salaries to employees.

The mayor hoped the KP government would facilitate the Capital Metropolitan government in providing better services to the public and developing Peshawar.