DHAKA: The government opts for collecting transport taxes and fees through online banking and the latest system is expected to increase the annual revenue earnings from this sector by Tk 150 crore.

In the meantime, the communications ministry has chosen the Computer Network System Limited (CNS) as the service provider for five years after detailed investigation about seven companies for establishing the online banking system.

The company will take Tk  44,70,46,875 for five years’ service, officials said.

Communications Secretary Mohammad Mozammel Haque Khan told BanglaNews24.com.bd that now the taxes and fees on vehicles are collected through 94 post offices across the country.

The main problem with the existing system is sufferings of transport owners and lack of coordination seen between Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and post offices in financial tally.

Switchover to online banking has been decided to mitigate the harassment of owners, and bring transparency and dynamism in the transport administration.

Khan further said, “Large amounts of money in taxes and fees deposited through post offices in the past years remained unaccounted for. As a result, BRTA could not deposit about Tk 100 crore with the government exchequer.”

If the online taxing system is started, he hoped, the revenue earnings would increase by over Tk 150 crore.

It was learnt that Tk 647 crore was earned as revenue from transport taxes and fees during the 2008-09 fiscal year. The target of revenue earnings from vehicles was Tk 660 crore in the year just gone by, but only Tk 385 crore was realized.

For collecting the taxes and fees on vehicles, the post offices are given about Tk 20 crore annually as commission. The department of post offices has proposed to raise the commission from 3 percent to 6 percent recently, whereas, the online banking system will cost Tk 9 crore per annum, less than half the commission given to the post offices.

BDST/ 1931, JULY 1, 2010.