Published: 11:52 PM, 16 August 2026
5-year trade licence renewal facility coming soon: DSCC Administrator
Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Administrator Md Abdus Salam on Sunday said that a five-year renewal facility for trade licences will be introduced soon to make services easier and more convenient for businesses.
"We are working to make the trade licence renewal process easier, faster and digital," he said while addressing a discussion meeting on "Local Business and Commerce, Law and Order, Human Rights Development and Trade Licence Services" organised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) in the capital, reports BSS. Salam said the DSCC wants to provide trade licence services through mutual understanding and cooperation with the business community instead of applying force or creating harassment. He said necessary measures were being taken to enable businesses to renew trade licences and pay holding taxes and other municipal taxes from home through digital services. Regarding the demand for five-year trade licence renewal, the DSCC administrator said the proposal had been positively considered and an official decision would be announced soon. On signboard taxes, he said the actual size of many signboards of large commercial establishments was not properly reflected in tax assessments. However, he stressed that businesses would not be harassed over the issue, and the DSCC would ensure a fair and transparent system for determining such taxes.
The DSCC administrator identified traffic congestion, encroachment of footpaths and the problem of illegal hawkers as some of the major challenges facing the capital.
He said hawkers and battery-run rickshaws would be brought under a registration system and licences would be issued based on a fixed number.
Their identities and activities would also be preserved in a digital database, he added.
Salam said the longstanding problems of outstanding trade licence fees and unpaid rents in city corporation markets would also be addressed in cooperation with business organisations.
He called for market-based coordination initiatives involving business associations to resolve the problems.
Speaking about the preservation of Old Dhaka's heritage, he said various programmes had been undertaken marking the 416th anniversary of the historic part of the capital.
"We want to develop Dhaka in such a way that its citizens can proudly regard it as their own city," he said.
The DSCC administrator also urged business leaders to take a leading role, alongside the administration, in addressing traffic congestion, footpath encroachment, extortion and other urban management problems.
"Without the active cooperation of the business community, sustainable solutions to these problems are not possible," he said.
DCCI President Taskin Ahmed presided over the meeting.
Additional Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masud Karim attended the meeting as a special guest.
Senior officials of the two city corporations, DCCI directors and business leaders were also present.
