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Municipal Finance

Fund shortage stalls JnNURM projects of Bengal civic bodies

Friday, 15 October 2010 06:34 administrator
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Business Line  15.10.2010

Fund shortage stalls JnNURM projects of Bengal civic bodies

Delay in releasing Central funds blamed for hiccup.

Abhishek Law

Kolkata, Oct.14

Infrastructure projects taken up by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), the premier urban development agency in the State, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission Scheme (JnNURM) have hit a rough patch following delay in obtaining fund clearances from the Centre.

The projects, which began across the State, are now facing fund shortage following the series of delays and non-compliance of norms in some cases by the KMDA. Cost escalation too has become a matter of concern.

Rs 140 cr stuck

Around Rs 140 crore is stuck in projects that are currently awaiting clearance from the Centre.

According to a report prepared by the KMDA, the Centre is yet to release a sum of Rs 70.43 crore which has been provided by the agency on behalf of the Centre for the various Urban Infrastructure Governance projects taken up under JnNURM. The urban infrastructure governance projects, whose instalments have been stopped, include setting up of water treatment plants in Chandannagore and Howrah, construction of flyovers across the city and building a set of solid waste management system in some municipal areas of the state.

 Till date payment of the second instalment, amounting to around Rs 13 crore, for construction of one of the flyovers at Vivekananda Road in Kolkata has been stopped after the KMDA failed to comply with previously laid down suggestions of the Centre.

 On the urban poverty alleviation programmes taken up under the Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme of the JnNURM, the KMDA has put in another Rs 77.44 crore from its own resources.

Instalments stopped

 Mr Sougata Roy, Union Minister of State for Urban Development admitted to Business Line that instalments have been stopped in some cases.

“Instalments for some BSUP schemes have been stopped since the state has not complied with the norms laid down by the Centre. Moreover, the monitoring committee has raised some objections in the matter,” he said. He added that the State was asked to submit its demand in a new format and even put up some of the terms and conditions on the KMDA's Web site. Since these have not been done, instalments have been held back.

KMDA officials maintained that the problem in releasing funds is a result of non-clearance and delay in assessing completed parts of different projects by an external supervisor, who is again appointed by the Centre.

Under the existing JnNURM rules, funds are released in four phases for a project.

In each phase, the Centre releases a proportion of the total amount of its contribution and a corresponding proportion of the fund is released by the urban local body (ULB), KMDA and state government.

Work is carried out and after completion of the phase, a third party is appointed for overseeing the work done. Based on the report, the ministry grants a utilisation certificate. Unless the utilisation certificate is provided, funds for the next phases are not released by the Centre.

In some cases, the Ministry has also misplaced the reports, because of which fund availability has been seriously hit and clearance for subsequent phases delayed.

In one such instance, the KMDA had taken up a Rs 142-crore project for providing round-the-clock water supply to five municipalities – Kalyani, Halisahar, Naihati, Kanchrapara and Gayeshpur – that face water shortage. While claims for submitting the fourth instalments was put forward to the ministry in April 2010, six similar reports were sent again to them, after the ministry claimed to have misplaced these reports. The last report was resent in September this year.

Mr Roy however denied the fact that instalments have been held back because reports have been misplaced. “In some cases the State's reply has not been satisfactory and owing to this instalments have been held back,” he said.

Last Updated on Friday, 15 October 2010 06:37
 

Shop rentals at NMC markets to be fixed using ready reckoner

Tuesday, 12 October 2010 11:20 administrator
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The Times of India        12.10.2010

Shop rentals at NMC markets to be fixed using ready reckoner
NAGPUR: Instead of increasing the rentals for shops or 'galas' in local markets and the license fee by 10% every year, NMC's market committee headed by Alka Dalal has proposed to revise the fee and rental for each shop for a period of two, three or five years as per the ready reckoner of town planning department for 2010.

This proposal was discussed at length in the last meeting convened by the committee in July and is now awaiting a nod from the general body. The license fee and rentals have not been revised for over 40 years now, Dalal said.

At present, the NMC hikes the license fee and rentals every year by 10% but the process of renewal is cumbersome and time-consuming as the files remain pending with officials for months on end. "We surveyed nearly 50 markets in the city and found a vast disparity among the rentals charged at different areas. We have proposed that the rentals and license fees for the shops within the markets should be determined for every financial year on April 1 as per the ready reckoner. This will not only benefit the NMC but also reduce the burden on officials since valuation of the property every year is very time-consuming," Dalal added.

Giving the example of Gokulpeth market in Dharampeth zone, she said, "A khasra admeasuring 120 sq feet is charged only 331 as license fee as per the current rate of 2.76 per sq foot. The rate as per the town planning rate for 2010-11 is 19.32. When calculated, the fee amounts to 2,318, thus resulting in an increase of Rs 1,987. The same fee will increase to Rs 2781 after three years."

The fee should again be revised as per the ready reckoner in the year 2017 after a period of six years, as suggested by the committee. This, however, is not the case in some of the less commercial and posh areas like the Sadar Link Road in zone no. 10 where the fee is much higher than NMC rates. The monthly license fee for a khasra measuring 150 sq feet in Sadar Link Road market is 2,904 which should be only 1,895 as per the town planning in 2010. The owners are paying 1,009 excess, she explained.

In such cases, the higher rate for 2009 should be accepted as the standard and rates revised accordingly. The shop or 'gala' owners will also have to procure a no objection certificate from the NMC in case of transfer of license, as per the proposal. This revision will not help raise the NMC revenue but will also benefit the shop keepers, the committee members feel. "We wish to give the markets a new, clean look altogether," Dalal added.
 

Cap on GHMC charges for eco-tourism projects

Friday, 08 October 2010 07:00 administrator
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Business Standard  08.10.2010

Cap on GHMC charges for eco-tourism projects

Chief Minister K Rosaiah has agreed to restrict the collection of development charges, betterment charges and other charges by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to 15 per cent under an eco-tourism project.

He reviewed the eco-tourism projects with minister for forests P Ramachandra Reddy and other officials.

Officials of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation, the nodal agency to implement eco-tourism projects, said the GHMC was taking into account the entire area and was insisting on payment of various municipal charges accordingly. The building portion did not exceed 15 per cent of the total project area, which ran into several acres in the reserved forest areas, they said.

The forest department has initiated projects like Kawal sanctuary in Adilabad district, Farahabad in Srisailam, Hope Island in East Godavari, mangroves in Nizampatnam and a bird park at Uppalapadu in Guntur district.  Work on these projects would commence next year.  Projects at Boyakonda in Chittoor and Mrigavani national park at Gandipet would be taken up under the PPP model.

Other eco-tourism projects under implementation include Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Botanical Garden (51.83 hectare with an outlay of Rs189 crore), night safari and eco-park (45.61 hectare with Rs 70.36 crore) and a bird park (12.43 hectare with Rs 32.71 crore) in the Kothaguda Reserve Forest area on the city outskirts, a release said.

CM approves Sushrutha project

Chief minister K Rosaiah has approved the ‘Sushrutha’ project, which envisages establishment of 22 state-of-the-art operation theatres on one floor of Gandhi Hospital at Secunderabad. 

According to an official release, the project includes setting up of a medicalcare unit with 100 beds and creation of a centre of excellence in surgical skills with a superspeciality course in anaesthesia and super-speciality para-medical and nursing courses. 

It will be implemented on a ‘managed services model’ at an estimated cost of about Rs 25 crore.

Last Updated on Friday, 08 October 2010 07:07
 
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