The Hindu 02.03.2011
Corporation under severe financial crunch
It faces difficulty in execution of several works
Severe financial crunch has placed the Madurai Corporation in a
predicament, says the Outcome Budget 2011-12 presented by Mayor G.
Thenmozhi here on Monday.
The Corporation has presented a Rs. 8-crore deficit
budget. But the budget note reveals that difficulty in execution of
several works under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission
(JNNURM) because of the financial constraint.
The Corporation has to pay at least Rs. 15 crore towards
provident fund and insurance of its employees and terminal benefits to
retirees.
The local body is pinning its hopes on huge grants and a
long term, interest-free loan of Rs. 427.84 crore which it has sought
from the State Government to “ensure completion of all the schemes”
during 2011-12 which is the Mission year.
The Corporation was sanctioned several projects at an outlay of Rs. 2,496.98 crore under the Mission in 2006.
“It had no other alternative except to divert the
available amounts in the scheme and by obtaining loan from funding
agencies to the total required amount of Rs. 427.84 crore,” the budget
note said.
The Union Ministry has laid a condition that execution
of all the schemes under the Mission with the 3rd instalment of the fund
will only make it eligible for the fourth instalment of Rs. 134 crore.
“The inevitable gap in getting administrative and
technical sanctions on revision of estimates due to escalation in cost
and tender premiums has caused this status of affairs”, the note said.
Grant sought
The corporation has sought from the State Government
Rs. 127.19 crore as grant instead of interest-free loan as its share
for the mission.
Besides, it sought Rs. 131.83 crore as grant towards
tender premium and cost escalation and the balance of Rs. 168.32 crore
as interest-free long-term loan from the State Government to ensure
final completion of all the schemes before the end of the Mission year
of 2011-12, the note said.
Among them, the second Vaigai Water Supply Scheme (Rs. 71.23 crore), construction of three check dams across the Vaigai
river (Rs. 13.38 crore) have been completed and construction of
underground drainage in leftover places and renewal of sewage treatment
plants (Rs. 252 crore) has been partially completed.
Only one-third of the project of construction of
concrete retaining walls for 52 km of 11 channels and stormwater
drainage canals for 822 km (total cost Rs. 348.82 crore) have been
completed. Solid waste management (Rs. 75.99 crore) and construction of
22,766 houses for urban poor (Rs. 307.18 crore), too were incomplete.