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.