The National Board of Revenue is going to impose 15 per cent value added tax on the tickets for metro rail services from July 1 this year.
An office order was issued by the NBR’s VAT Act and Rule branch on Thursday in this regard.
Currently metro rails are running on 20.1-kilometre-long Uttara-Motijheel route every day except Friday.
MAN Siddique, managing director of the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, said that the NBR decision was unexpected.
'If the VAT is imposed then the burden will be on the passengers as there is no other alternative,' he added.
The company is the implementing agency of the metro rail.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina launched the country’s first-ever electricity-powered elevated and air-conditioned rail system on 11.73-kilometre-long Uttara–Agargaon section on December 28, 2022 amid huge enthusiasm.
Later, the PM on November 4, 2023 inaugurated the service on Motijheel-Uttara section and next day the services on the section were opened for public.
