Bandarban Representative: The contracting business in Bandarban is controlled by a syndicate consisting of a few contractors. Controlling the entire tender process and influencing and evading VAT tax has become their routine. Besides, there are irregularities in the work on the project. There is no one to see them. When general contractors open up against the contractor syndicates, they are cornered in various ways.
Most notably, VAT-tax evasion. Not one crore, two crore, or hundred crore rupees. For the past two years, this contractor syndicate has evaded about thousands of crores of VAT. They are evading the VAT tax by using the licenses of small ethnic group contractors. As a result, on the one hand, the government is losing thousands of crores of revenue; on the other hand, the real development objective of the government is being disrupted. The government has shown flexibility in giving VAT tax to the contracting businesses of backward minorities in three hill districts. While general contractors have to pay 11 percent VAT when working on a project in hilly areas, contractors from minority communities have to pay only 4 percent. That means a 7 percent VAT-tax exemption for them. A handful of unscrupulous contractor syndicates are using this opportunity to evade the 7 percent VAT tax. They are using a minority license instead of their own contractor license. Notable among these are UT Mong, Ratan Sen Tanchangya, MS Marma, Anant Vikas Tripura, MM Traders, Marma Enterprises, Emu Construction, Reef Construction, Milton Traders, and Mayadhan Chakma. This is not only in Bandarban; these licenses are also widely used in hilly Rangamati and Khagrachari.
Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board, Local Government Engineering Directorate (LGED), Bandarban Hill District Council, Roads and Highways Department, and Public Health Engineering Directorate have been in use for more than two decades.
According to sources, for the past two years, various works worth about 15 thousand 300 crore rupees have been done in Bandarban in the name of these licenses. Out of which, about 3100 crores have been spent on the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board, about 4500 crores on LGED, about 3200 crores on Hill District Council, 3000 crores on roads and highways, and about 1500 crores on the Directorate of Public Health Engineering. According to that, about 1 thousand 71 crore rupees have been evaded as VAT tax of 15 thousand 300 crore rupees at a rate of 7 percent.
Bandarban Local Government Engineering Department Executive Engineer Dr. Ziaul Islam said that if the government makes the rules equal for all Pahari-Bengali in paying VAT tax, then the problem will be solved. Then no one can evade VAT tax like this.
Another issue is that owners of minority licenses do not know where or how work is being done. They did not do a single task with their own hands. Just hand over their documents to the contractor syndicate. The license holders get 1 or 2 percent after the completion of the project. According to sources, the owners of these licenses have even submitted signed blank checks to numerous contractors in the three hill districts. So that they can withdraw money from the bank by working on the project.
Ratan Sen Tanchangya, the license holder, asked the reporter’s Bikash number without giving any answer to the question of why they are letting others use the licenses without working. UT Mong, the licensee, hung up the phone, saying he was busy with the meeting.
Another thing is that even though there are hundreds of licenses in Bandarban, only the syndicate member contractors get work; the rest of the contractors are not given work. Anger is increasing day by day among the contractors in Bandarban. A general contractor said there is no opportunity to get work in Bandarban outside the syndicate. The officials and employees of the concerned office are also involved with the syndicate.
Some contractors in Bandarban said that where the government is trying to raise revenue, the contractor syndicate in Bandarban is evading crores of revenue. The licenses should be canceled, or the same rule should be applied to paying VAT tax among ethnic minorities and Bengalis; hopefully, the problem will be solved.
