Storm water drains, roads and solid waste management get priority in Chennai Corporation budget

The Greater Chennai Corporation Budget for 2023-2024 was presented on Monday with most of the allocation of funds going for mitigation of floods, roadwork, solid waste management and bridges

The Greater Chennai Corporation Budget for 2023-2024 was presented on Monday with most of the allocation of funds going for mitigation of floods, roadwork, solid waste management and bridges.

The discussion on the Budget will be held on Tuesday. Around 40% of the allocation in capital expenditure has been set aside for development of storm-water drains, through funding from multilateral agencies such as ADB and KfW. Funds under Smart City Scheme, AMRUT 2.0 and State Disaster Mitigation Fund will be utilised for flood mitigation.

Taxation and Finance Committee Chairman Sarbajaya Das presented the Budget with a capital expenditure of ₹ 3,560.16 crore and revenue expenditure of ₹4,466.29 crore. The revenue receipt is estimated at ₹4,131.70 crore and capital receipt ₹3,554.50 crore. Property tax revenue is projected to be ₹1,680 crore in 2023-2024, professional tax collection is projected to be ₹500 crore, entertainment tax ₹50 crore and company tax ₹1.8 crore. The State Finance Commission grant is expected to be ₹850 crore. The deficit is estimated at ₹445.07 crore during 2023-24.

Owing to the increase in property tax rates, the civic body’s own source of revenue from property tax, professional tax, company tax and entertainment tax is expected to increase to ₹2,231.80 crore. “We are going to reduce the overdraft from ₹550 crore to ₹400 crore this year because of the increase in our own source of revenue,” said an official. The overall outstanding of borrowings is estimated at ₹2,300 crore this year as against ₹2,500 crore last year.

The interest payment is estimated at ₹148 crore in 2023-24. Establishment expenditure is estimated at ₹1,939.98 crore in 2023-24 as against ₹1,717.58 crore last year.

Meanwhile, Mayor R. Priya made 83 announcements pertaining to civic infrastructure projects, welfare measures and announced an increase in councillor ward improvement scheme from ₹35 lakh to ₹40 lakh.  

Pointing to the need for a makeover for civic infrastructure, Ms. Priya said the civic body will allocate ₹1,434.06 crore for development of playgrounds, roads, parks, schools and anganwadis. Development of storm-water drains is estimated at ₹1,482.70 crore, makeover for roads is estimated at ₹881.20 crore, solid waste management ₹260.52 crore, buildings ₹104.17 crore and bridges ₹102.50 crore. Special projects such as Smart City Mission and infrastructure for Nirbhaya Scheme will get ₹313.45 crore.