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No smart city tag for city but GHMC pays a whopping Rs 46 lakh for consultancy

Wednesday, 05 April 2017 07:50 administrator
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The New Indian Express     05.04.2017 

No smart city tag for city but GHMC pays a whopping Rs 46 lakh for consultancy

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad might have backed out of the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) giving in for Karimnagar’s inclusion, but the same has not prevented the cash-strapped Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation from shelling out a whopping `46.26 lakh towards consultancy services.

The GHMC Standing Committee approved the proposal and recommended the same to the state government a few days ago. It was as per the request of the Chief Minister that the Central Government replaced Hyderabad with Karimnagar for SCM last year. Warangal is another city selected by the Centre for the mission.

However, before Hyderabad was replaced from the SCM, the civic body had appointed consultant M/s Knight Frank (India) Private Limited for preparation of proposal for assisting GHMC to participate in the smart cities challenge. The consultant prepared proposals and submitted to GHMC and charged `40.40 lakh towards fee and `5.85 lakh towards service tax.

The above consultant was one among the 11 empanelled consultant listed by the Centre. The consultant prepared city-wide concept plan, draft smart city proposal and final city draft proposal.
On Dec 7, 2015, the consultant was verbally informed that state government has decided not to pursue the smart city challenge proposal for Greater Hyderabad. However, by that time most of the work for smart city challenge proposal was completed.

Since the GHMC had already engaged the consultant for preparation of smart city challenge proposal, the consultancy charges payable to the extent of work done, if any, be paid by GHMC, as per the state government instructions.

The consultant submitted the smart city challenge proposal as per the template of Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD) and the total work entrusted to them is complete and if the proposal was forwarded to MoUD, the consultant will be eligible for 100 per cent payment for consultancy from MoUD. However, the consultants agreed to receive 60 per cent of the contract price from GHMC, since the smart challenge proposal not forwarded to the Central Government.

SCM is an urban renewal and retrofitting programme launched by Central Government with a mission to develop 109 cities all over the country making them citizen friendly and sustainable in June 2015.

 

GMC tops charts in property tax collections

Wednesday, 05 April 2017 00:00 administrator
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The Hindu       05.04.2017 

GMC tops charts in property tax collections

The Guntur Municipal Corporation has topped the charts in the property tax collections in the State.

Municipal Commissioner Nagalakshmi S. said the civic body has topped the property tax collections by achieving 91% per cent of the target. The GMC has netted Rs. 57.86 crore as against the demand of Rs. 65.71 crore, topping the Urban local bodies in the State.

The GMC, which has extended the 5 % rebate in the financial year 2016-17, also saw a spike in tax collections. The GMC has collected Rs. 11.93 crore from the offer of 5 % discount.

Ms. Nagalakshmi said that only by shoring up the tax collections and widening the tax base, development could be possible in the town. The decision to waive interest on tax arrears has boosted the tax collections. The Commissioner felicitated the revenue personnel.

 

Mayor promises effective implementation of plans

Tuesday, 04 April 2017 00:00 administrator
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The Hindu        04.04.2017 

Mayor promises effective implementation of plans

Hubballi-Dharwad Mayor D.K. Chavan making his maiden speech at the municipal council meeting in Hubballi on Monday.KIRAN_BAKALE  

Making HDMC financially stronger is priority: D.K. Chavan

Making his maiden speech at the monthly meeting of the Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Council here on Monday, newly elected Mayor D.K. Chavan said that his focus would be on implementing plans and schemes announced in the budget for 2017-18 before his tenure ended.

Reading out his speech, Mr. Chavan said that his priority would be to make the municipal corporation financially stronger by exploiting the available revenue sources and bringing in industrial estates and residential localities under the property tax net.

Additional revenue

Additional revenue would help in expediting development programmes and also in initiating development in the villages that had been brought under the jurisdiction of the municipal corporation, he said.

Mr. Chavan said that programmes would be launched to create awareness on reducing air pollution in the twin cities, banning on plastic carry bags, effective management of solid waste as the twin cities had a long way to go in terms of becoming a Smart City.

Commercial complexes

The Mayor said that the two old commercial complexes of the corporation — one at Broadway and the other at Hosur — had become unfit for occupation and they would be demolished and a new spacious commercial complexes would be built.

The Mayor also promised that his focus would be on getting underpasses built at major junctions and taking up city beautification projects, including development of parks.

 
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