The Kozhikode City Corporation’s budget for 2013-14,
presented by Deputy Mayor P.T. Abdul Latheef here on Saturday, gives
priority to basic infrastructure development and e-governance
initiatives.

The budget proposes an outlay of
Rs.297.09 crore. The civic body expects revenue to the tune of Rs.308.85
crore. The carryover from last year is Rs.18.51 crore. Prof. Latheef
also presented a revised budget for 2012-13. The total revenue is
Rs.192.96 crore and expenditure, Rs.174.45 crore.

In
the current budget year, Rs.8.58 crore will be spent on improving
transportation facilities and Rs.11.58 crore will be spent as part of
the road maintenance projects. A majority of the public works projects
from the previous year will be carried over and is expected to create
challenges for the engineering section.

The major
link roads that will be developed as part of this will include
Malapparamba-Chevayur road and Paroppadi-Chevarambalam-Thondayad roads.

For
the newly added wards, Rs.3.3 crore will be spent on construction of
new roads. This apart, 28 wards will be allotted Rs.10 lakh each and the
remaining 47, Rs.12 lakh each for developmental activities.

A
major innovation in street lighting is the installation of meters and
timers at a cost of Rs.45 lakh to save energy and to avoid extra
electricity charges. Also, 100 solar LED lamp systems will be installed
on an experimental basis at a cost of Rs.30,000 apiece.

A
multi-level parking lot to accommodate 700 cars and 200 two-wheelers
will be constructed near the Mavoor road area at a cost of Rs.23 crore.

The complex will have separate floors for an exhibition pavilion and commercial establishments.

Landmark buildings

Rs.1.5
crore will be spent on the protection of landmark buildings in city
like stadium building and Jawahar building. Markets in the city will be
renovated at a cost of Rs.50 lakh. A total of Rs.1.8 crore has been
allocated for the renovation of Jubilee Hall, S.K. Pottekkatt Hall and
Kovoor Community Hall.

For the development of
playgrounds in Kannanchery, Elathur, Beypore and Vengeri, Rs. 45.4 lakh
have been earmarked. Parks at Thadambattuthazham and Rahman Bazar will
be developed at a cost of Rs.60 lakh.

As part of the
e-governance initiatives aimed at service delivery improvement,
birth-death certificates, ownership certificates, and approval
certificate for house constructions will be made available for online
downloads. The first phase of digitisation of office records and back
files will also be implemented this year.

As part of
extending the facilities to mobile governance, property tax services and
birth-death certificates will be made available on mobiles from this
year. The booking of halls under the Corporation like Tagore Hall will
also be made online.

E- Service centres with the help
of Kudumbashree will be set up to deliver these services to those
without computer access. The entire outlay for e-governance initiatives
is Rs.1.2 crore.