Gabtali and Mohakhali inter-district bus terminals have been leased for a total of Tk 120.12 million for one year for the first time through open bidding at the initiative of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).
Leaseholders formally handed over a cheque to DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam in this connection at a meeting at Nagar Bhaban in the capital on Tuesday.
Earlier, during the period of undivided Dhaka City Corporation, a collection assistant was appointed to collect revenue from the two bus terminals at a nominal price. The amount of money earmarked for this collection did not go up for a long time.
Besides, the collection agent did not deposit around Tk 40 million to the DNCC until August 31 2020, showing various excuses.
To address these irregularities, DNCC Mayor took the initiative to lease the terminals through open tenders.
During the meeting, the mayor said very little revenue was collected from these two bus terminals.
There had been a ‘systematic problem’ in revenue collection here for a long time, he blamed.
“I took charge of DNCC mayor and saw that there was a systematic fault here for a long time ago. A collector was given the responsibility for revenue collection. There was a clause - when transport is closed due to strike or hartal and other reasons, they will not have to pay revenue to DNCC. Those decisions were wrong actually”, said the mayor.
“They did not pay their dues, but demanded money from the city corporation. Such unequal agreements were made to benefit a selfish group”.
“I have said clearly that we cannot accept such an unequal agreement. As a result, the city corporation is losing revenue. So we leased through open tenders. When we went to lease, our officers were threatened in various ways. I said no need to listen to anyone to this end”, he said.
According to rules, the lease will be given through tender, the city mayor added.
