SMC drafts Rs 851 cr budget for 2005-06

Focus on making Surat 'Environment City of India'

Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) commissioner G R Aloria has proposed a Rs 850.89 crore budget for the financial year 2005-06.

A budget has earmarked significant expenditure on roads and drinking water projects.

"No new taxes have been levied in the draft budget, and there is no proposal to change the existing tax rates," Aloria said.

The SMC has proposed an income of Rs 760.72 crore in the draft budget for FY 2005-06.

This includes octroi income of Rs 355.66 crore, property tax income of Rs 227.80 crore, vehicle tax income of Rs 7.50 crore, various grants of Rs 48.82 crore, and other income of Rs 41.70 crore.

"SMC achieved revenue income of Rs 529.76 crore in financial year 2003-04. We have revised the revenue income figure to Rs 632 crore for the current financial year, while the draft revenue income for financial year 2005-06 is at Rs 681.48 crore. This shows that SMC has managed to constantly raise its income," he said.

The draft budget has made a provision of Rs 63.43 crore for various drinking water related works.

These include developing a water treatment plant, building overhead and underground tanks, completing the grid system, laying supply lines, getting ISO certification, and starting ozonisation of drinking water.

"In the next financial year, our focus will be to project Surat as the Environment City of India. Several projects, proposed in the draft budget, are environment-oriented," he added.

A provision of Rs 39.92 crore has been made for various drainage related projects. SMC plans to automate all its 27 sewerage pumping stations in the next financial year.

Other drainage-related works proposed include laying drainage lines, and developing two more sewerage pumping stations.

The commissioner has also proposed developing three methane-based plants to generate power out of sewerage, in the draft budget.

These power plants would generate 4.67 lakh units of power and result in an annual saving of Rs 1.80 crore for SMC.

The draft budget has provided Rs 56 crore for works related to rivulet realignment, storm water lines, door to door garbage collection, sanitary land fill, vermiculture project, incinerator, biomedical waste disposal project, gardens, lakes, picnic spots, zoo, amusement park, aquarium, slum upgradation, health centres, hospitals, nursing & physiotherapy colleges.

SMC plans to convert all roads of the city into cement concrete roads in the next five years. Work has also started on four roads.

The commission has proposed converting eight more roads into cement concrete roads in the next fiscal year. The draft budget has made a provision of Rs 113.83 crore for 482 road related works.

The commissioner has also proposed a CNG-based public transport system with public-private partnership. The budget also has a provision of Rs 50.89 crore for developing seven flyover bridges.

The draft budget has provided Rs 50 crore for a science centre, a trade cum convention centre, four UCD centres, three libraries, ten reading rooms, six school buildings, twelve ward offices, two auditoriums, one sports complex, one party plot, eight community halls, one gymnastic hall, senior citizens centre, one food court and night market and multi storeyed parking.

"SMC has also managed to reduce its establishment expenditure over the last few years. We have lowered our expenditure on salaries from 31.64 per cent of the total budgetary provision in 2003-04 to 28.18 per cent in the current fiscal. We propose to bring it down to 27.69 per cent in FY 2005-06. Our aim is to bring it down to around 25 per cent by 2006-07," the commissioner said.

746 works, some of which were started in the previous fiscal and some in the current fiscal itself and involving an expenditure of Rs 46 crore, have been completed so far. 428 other works, involving expenditure of Rs 208 crore, are in different stages of progress, while 638 works involving an expenditure of Rs 316 crore, are in the pipeline, Aloria said.

The commissioner also informed that he has made a provision of Rs 1.50 crore in the draft budget for developing an emergency response centre, which would facilitate co-ordination in relief & rescue, during times of emergencies.

The draft budget also has a provision of Rs 90 lakh for the Geographical Information System (GIS), which is used for preparing base map through satellite imagery aerial photo, and a provision of Rs 1.50 crore for the vehicle tracking system.