KARACHI: By collecting municipal utility charges and taxes (MUCT) through K-(KE) Electric’s power bills, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) hopes to generate an estimated Rs 3 billion in revenue per year.
According to a contract between the KMC and KE, the power company would retain Rs 300 million, or 7%, of the total as collection fees. The tax would be collected from 24 million units throughout the city, according to a KMC official.
After the tax collection, the KMC’s financial status will significantly improve, the official predicted, noting that the metropolitan corporation planned to launch numerous city development projects using the funds raised. The number of power bills would determine how much MUCT was collected.
A 50 rupee fee would be charged for 200 units. Rs150 to Rs200 would be collected for additional units.The sum had previously been set at Rs5,000 per industrial unit, but now it had been lowered to Rs200 so that everyone could pay it simply, the official explained. The provincial government has instructed the power company to collect MUCT in April pursuant to the Sindh Local Government Act 2021.
Najam Ahmed Shah, the local government secretary, issued a notification allowing the power company to charge MUCT for electricity. The KE declared that it will only abide by orders from the authorities. The covered area of the units served as the basis for collecting the KMC MUCT fees in the past.
Now, though, they would be collected in accordance with the amount of electricity used.Syed Mustafa Kamal served as the nazim of Karachi in 2008, the year the MUCT was first mentioned in a KMC Council resolution.
