THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
The City Corporation has been recognised as an investment-worthy urban
local body in a credit rating process required for the implementation of
the Central scheme Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT). With the rating, the Corporation would be in a
position to avail loans from multilateral agencies such as Asian
Development Bank and World Bank for implementing mega projects.

Bengaluru-based
private credit rating agency Brick Work Rating India has assigned ‘BWR
BBB’ rating to the Corporation with a ‘stable’ outlook. This means the
Corporation is considered to have moderate degree of safety regarding
timely servicing of financial obligations and carries moderate credit
risk.

The rating factors in the civic
service delivery standards maintained by the civic body, the
infrastructure in place, the revenue surplus position over the last six
years, economic base, high literacy rate and progress made in
implementing key reforms. The rating is considered to be a boost for the
civic body which is competing for the Smart City project.
Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi share the same rating and are only two
among the nine cities under the AMRUT scheme to get investment grade
rating. The ratings starting from BWR AAA to BBB are considered to be
investment grade.  

AMRUT scheme aims
at providing basic services (water  supply, sewerage and urban
transport) to households and  building amenities in cities which will
improve the quality of life. The total outlay of AMRUT mission for the
state from 2015 to 2020 is Rs 2,333.92 crore.

However,
the rating agency has been critical of the Corporation in terms of its
increasing dependence on Central and state government grants, low
overall tax collection efficiency, inadequate managerial and technical
capacity and limited resource mobilisation strategies. The AMRUT scheme
remains a non-starter in the Corporation due to various reasons. “The
scheme requires a consultant to monitor the projects. But the state
high-powered steering committee is yet to decide on one. The delay makes
it difficult to start projects such as multi-level parking, foot
overbridges etc which were mentioned in last year’s budget,” said an
officer.