Mumbai: This year, BMC Will revise property tax rates, an exercise that is done every few years based on appreciation in real estate values but was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Underlining the need to raise more funds for the city in future, Municipal Commissioner IS Chahal pointed to the challenges of meeting both capital and revenue expenditure and said that new revenue sources would have to be tapped. He said, this year, BMC was withdrawing Rs 9,706 crore from its special and reserve funds to pay bills for infrastructure projects and taking a loan of Rs 4,998 crore against the same fund.
Chahal said, “Given the increasing liabilities of ongoing projects and special projects, huge amount will be required in future… Also, massive funds will be required for maintenance and up-gradation of these facilities in future.”
He said that the BMC would adopt a policy to take up only high priority works so that the projects in the pipeline are not hampered due to paucity of funds. He said that though the BMC was taking a dip in the reserve fund, it was ensuring that the fund is used for infrastructure projects. “31,323 crore is being kept in reserve by BMC for committed liabilities in the state of trust. The remaining 55,807 crore has now been linked to various infrastructure projects. This will ensure that reserves are funded for capital expenditure to improve infrastructure for citizens in Mumbai,” Chahal said.
With 50% reduction in development premium for construction by the state, BMC earned Rs 13,543 crore through this channel till January 31 this year. However, revenue from property tax collection fell short of the targeted Rs 7,000 crore with collections of Rs 4,800. Chahal said Rs 462 crore was also waived off as part of the concessions announced for those living in houses of less than 500 square feet.
The civic chief said that the focus of BMC’s work is on quality of life and ease of living. Mitigating climate change and improving air quality are among the priorities. “BMC is covering areas related to climate change in an integrated manner through a dedicated Climate Action Plan cell set up specifically for this purpose and I am confident that BMC will be able to achieve ‘net zero’ (in carbon dioxide emissions) in the near future. will achieve.” Keeping this objective in mind, emphasis is being laid to replace the existing fleet of the Corporation with Electric Vehicles (EV).
However, the opposition rejected most of the proposals. Samajwadi Party leader aristocrat sheikh Said that there is nothing for common man in the budget. “This is an inflated budget and wasteful expenditure has been proposed on plans like strategic urbanisation,” Sheikh said.
Aam Aadmi Party’s Mumbai working president Ruben Mascarenhas said the big budget outlay makes no sense when only 48% of the budget for the last financial year 2021-2022 was actually utilised. He said that this has been happening year after year for the last several years.
Underlining the need to raise more funds for the city in future, Municipal Commissioner IS Chahal pointed to the challenges of meeting both capital and revenue expenditure and said that new revenue sources would have to be tapped. He said, this year, BMC was withdrawing Rs 9,706 crore from its special and reserve funds to pay bills for infrastructure projects and taking a loan of Rs 4,998 crore against the same fund.
Chahal said, “Given the increasing liabilities of ongoing projects and special projects, huge amount will be required in future… Also, massive funds will be required for maintenance and up-gradation of these facilities in future.”
He said that the BMC would adopt a policy to take up only high priority works so that the projects in the pipeline are not hampered due to paucity of funds. He said that though the BMC was taking a dip in the reserve fund, it was ensuring that the fund is used for infrastructure projects. “31,323 crore is being kept in reserve by BMC for committed liabilities in the state of trust. The remaining 55,807 crore has now been linked to various infrastructure projects. This will ensure that reserves are funded for capital expenditure to improve infrastructure for citizens in Mumbai,” Chahal said.
With 50% reduction in development premium for construction by the state, BMC earned Rs 13,543 crore through this channel till January 31 this year. However, revenue from property tax collection fell short of the targeted Rs 7,000 crore with collections of Rs 4,800. Chahal said Rs 462 crore was also waived off as part of the concessions announced for those living in houses of less than 500 square feet.
The civic chief said that the focus of BMC’s work is on quality of life and ease of living. Mitigating climate change and improving air quality are among the priorities. “BMC is covering areas related to climate change in an integrated manner through a dedicated Climate Action Plan cell set up specifically for this purpose and I am confident that BMC will be able to achieve ‘net zero’ (in carbon dioxide emissions) in the near future. will achieve.” Keeping this objective in mind, emphasis is being laid to replace the existing fleet of the Corporation with Electric Vehicles (EV).
However, the opposition rejected most of the proposals. Samajwadi Party leader aristocrat sheikh Said that there is nothing for common man in the budget. “This is an inflated budget and wasteful expenditure has been proposed on plans like strategic urbanisation,” Sheikh said.
Aam Aadmi Party’s Mumbai working president Ruben Mascarenhas said the big budget outlay makes no sense when only 48% of the budget for the last financial year 2021-2022 was actually utilised. He said that this has been happening year after year for the last several years.
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