The Bangladesh government wants the Election Commission to complete local government elections within the current fiscal year, State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam said on Sunday.
Mir Shahe Alam made the remarks at a press conference on installing rooftop solar power panels at offices, agencies and institutions under the Local Government Division, held at the Local Government Ministry’s conference room at the Secretariat.
“The government wants the Election Commission to complete the elections within this fiscal year,” he said. “However, the Election Commission will decide when the process will begin. If I announce the starting date, it would be embarrassing for the Election Commission.”
Responding to a question on whether higher fuel prices could affect local government elections, Mir Shahe Alam said no election schedule had yet been announced.
“The election dates have not yet been fixed,” he said. “The impact can be assessed when the elections are held.”
The state minister said the government had released Tk 3.70 billion for installing rooftop solar power panels at five types of local government institutions: city corporations, upazila parishads, municipalities, union parishads and district parishads.
“Solar power, like roads, drains and culverts, is part of the government’s development work,” he said, adding that instructions had been issued to spend funds in the sector.
Mir Shahe Alam said Tk 1.20 billion had been allocated to 3,000 union parishads, with Tk 350,000 provided to each union for generating 5.5 kilowatts of electricity.
“Union parishads have their own income,” he said. “They receive 5 per cent of income from markets and bazaars and 1 per cent from land registration. They should combine their own revenue with our funding to double electricity generation, use it themselves and supply power to the national grid.”
The allocations include Tk 1.20 billion for union parishads, Tk 750 million for city corporations, Tk 990 million for upazila parishads, Tk 640 million for municipalities and Tk 120 million for district parishads, he said.
Mir Shahe Alam said the investment in electricity generation could be recovered within three to four years if surplus power, after meeting institutional needs, was sold to the government at Tk 10.50 per unit.
Local government institutions would receive additional revenue from surplus electricity during the 20-year guarantee and warranty period, he said.
Local government institutions also collect revenue from ferry terminals, markets, transport taxes in municipalities, trade licences and holding taxes under existing revenue collection policies, the state minister said.
“Alongside this revenue collection, an opportunity is being created to earn from renewable energy,” he said. “After using the electricity they generate, institutions can sell surplus power to the government and the Power Division to earn their own revenue.”