Govt plans to double DoE fees

The government plans to increase non-tax revenue collection in the new fiscal year by doubling the fees for obtaining, processing, and renewing environmental clearance certificates among other services provided by the Department of Environment (DoE).

The government will also take steps to introduce fees on some of DoE’s free of cost services in an effort to maintain the current economic growth that has been facilitating the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic shock, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change sources.

A notification announcing the new fees, which will take effect next fiscal year (FY) 2022-23, is expected to be issued later this month.

In the coming fiscal year, the government hopes to collect Tk 120.54 crore from this sector, whereas the current financial year’s target is Tk 109.88 crore.

Md Moniruzzaman, additional secretary of the environment ministry, said: “The government has suffered significant income losses due to the Covid-19 outbreak. As such various initiatives have been taken to increase earnings from the National Board of Revenue and other sources to boost government revenue.

“To this end, this latest initiative to increase DoE fees has been undertaken. However, care will be taken to guarantee that small businesses and low-income individuals are not hurt.”

The cost of environmental clearance or renewal is determined by the amount of money invested. Furthermore, VAT must be paid at the government-determined rate.

According to ministry sources, as per the revised fees, obtaining environment clearance certificates will cost Tk 3,000, up from Tk 1,500, against an investment of Tk 1-5 lakh.

Currently, the maximum cost of obtaining the permit is Tk 5 lakh, which will now be raised to Tk 10 lakh.

Furthermore, the maximum cost for new investments exceeding Tk 20,000 crore has been set at Tk 15 lakh.

Meanwhile, the renewal fees will be Tk 40,000 against an investment of up to Tk 1 crore; Tk 50,000 for an investment of up to Tk 5 crore; Tk 80,000 against an investment of up to Tk 20 crore; and Tk 1.2 lakh against an investment exceeding Tk 20 crore.

In addition, the cost of any sample analysis including that of water and liquid waste is also expected to go up twofold.

The DoE will from now on charge fees for services, such as assessing manganese or mercury levels in a sample, that were previously offered free of cost.

Besides, the fees for annual data of surface and groundwater have been doubled for all types of monitoring stations of Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna, Barisal, and Rajshahi divisions.

However, for institutions involved in educational and environmental research activities, fees will not be required based on the written recommendation of the head of the institution or the head of the department.