Paul Osuyi, Asaba
To boost its internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base, Delta State Government said property tax will be introduced in urban areas of the state.
Before the introduction, the government said enumeration of buildings will be carried.
Briefing Government House reporters in Asaba on the outcome of the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting which held virtually, Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, lamented that the state was presently generating less than three percent of income from property tax.
Aniagwu said the implementation of property tax was to meet certain thresholds of Disbursement Lind Indicators (DLIs) for the to access certain grants from the World Bank.
He said: “We have approved the strengthening of our revenue generation from property tax. This implies that the government will commence with the enumeration of building in the urban centers.
“The world bank, as much as it wants to give you grants, wants to see your ability to make more money, particularly in strengthening your IGR.
“At the moment, the state is not getting up to three per cent from property tax, we shall soon commence enumeration and as such make more money and also attract grant from the World Bank for the purpose of adding value and building more infrastructure and creating jobs for our people.”
The commissioner said the state government is to access a N10 billion facility from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for agricultural productivity which would attract a single digit interest rate.
Aniagwu pointed out that the repayment of the CBN loan would be shouldered by the state government and two private sector investors, stressing that the state government needed 2,507 hectares of land to go into large scale cassava production.
He emphasised that 1,007 hectares of land has been acquired, just as he said that government needed wide expanse of land to actualize the project expected to be established close to Oghara and Abraka in Ethiope area of the state.
According to him, the meeting approved N295 million as counterpart fund for the P-WASH programme where the state would collaborate with the Federal Government in the execution of water projects in the three senatorial districts