GEORGE TOWN, Sept 24 — The Penang Island City Council (MBPP) is expecting a drop in revenue of almost RM100 million for its 2021 budget.

MBPP Mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang announced an estimated revenue of RM354.01 million for 2021 compared to the estimated revenue of RM451.7million this year, which is a drop of RM97.69 million in revenue.

“The estimated drop in revenue is largely due to an expected decrease in developments next year,” he said after reading out the city council’s budget for 2021.

He said the Covid-19 pandemic has left an impact on all industries which will also affect the council’s revenue.

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“We expect a drop in development charges by almost RM37 million next year,” he said.

Yew said the city council will also be suffering a loss in revenue of RM19.5 million this year due to a rebate on assessment rates.

When asked if the city council will continue to give a rebate on assessment rates next year, he said there was no decision on it yet.

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Earlier, he announced a deficit budget of RM28.28 million for 2021.

The city council’s estimated expenditure for 2021 is RM383.29 million, which is also significantly less than the estimated expenditure of RM466.9 million this year.

Yew said this is because the city council is only focusing on critical projects this year.

A large portion of the budget is allocated for public infrastructure and waste management.

“The budget focused on five main domains — cleaner, greener, safer, healthier and public amenities and infrastructure — involving allocations totalling RM128.98 million,” he said.

The sums allocated are RM59.94 million for cleaner, RM7.92 million for greener, RM5.17 million for safer, RM1.52 million for healthier and RM54.43 million for public amenities and infrastructure.