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National Budget 2011-2012

Vision for digital Bangladesh ‘neglected’

Nasir Muzahid : The vision of the present government-building a digital Bangladesh-has been neglected, as the allocation for ICT sector in the proposed national budget for FY 2011-12 does not indicate that the budget will help flourish the development of the sector. Imposition of 72 per cent tax on carrying bag of laptop, 15 per cent VAT on Internet use, custom duty and VAT on Monitor, Digital Camera, Multimedia Projector, Networking Cables, Flash Card, UPS and IPS will definitely appear as a great barrier to the growth of the ICT development of the country, think ICT experts of the country. Leaders of different association of this sector are not also happy over the allocation for ICT sector in the proposed budget. They have recently at a joint press conference pointed out several negative sides of the budget which may demolish the dream of making a digital Bangladesh. Three leading ICT associations -- Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS), Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB)-expressed their views about national budget at that press conference. They said if the government wants to establish a knowledge-based society, it would have to take long-term initiatives for the ICT sector. The government should articulate as in which way it will build digital Bangladesh, they said. The leaders alleged that the ICT policy 2009 was not reflected in the proposed budget, and there are no clear directions, planning and allocation for the sector. "We hoped that ICT will get due importance in the budget following national ICT policy 2009, but it totally disappointed us," they added. All the recommendations which were sent by ICT Ministry, Telecommunication Ministry and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to the National Board of Revenue and Finance Ministry for the sector have been ignored in the budget, they alleged. The industry leaders said the government has announced that it will set up some software and high-tech parks both in Dhaka and outside, but there is no allocation to implement the projects. "How will they implement the projects without allocating any money for setting up the software and high-tech parks?" they raised question. Earlier, an action plan under the ICT policy 2009 proposed a fund worth Tk 700 crore for the development of the sector, but the industry is yet to get any money, they added. The government's proposal to hike import tax on fibre optic cable to 12 percent from existing 3 percent will certainly increase the cost of internet services, they said. Moreover 15 percent value added tax is still a barrier to internet use, they added. The organisations recommended the government to impose only a total of 3 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on computer and network accessories import so that retailers and suppliers were exempted from this, but it was ignored. They were surprised due to imposition of 72 per cent tax on carrying bag of laptop and said it will create negative impression on laptop buyers if they fix cost for it. The association leaders recommended the government to give tax exemption till 2018 side-by-side IT infrastructure development in order to attract foreign investment in the sector, he said. Presidents of BCS, BASIS and ISPAB Mostafa Zabbar, Mahboob Zaman and Akhtaruzzaman Manju spoke in the press conference.