Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) 2018-19 budget gives major thrust on environment conservation, public health and sanitation.
BBMP’s Chairman of Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance M Mahadev on Wednesday presented the budget with an outlay of ₹9,326.87 crore, which is a surplus budget for the third successive year.
Civic amenities
The budget has also made provision for preserving the Bengaluru city’s cultural heritage and completing infrastructure works, apart from leveraging technology for essential administrative and financial reforms.
Establishment of free WiFi hotspots at 400 public places in the city, free safety kits for all pourakarmikas, construction of multi-storeyed apartments for slum-dwellers under public-private partnership model on a pilot basis are other highlights of the budget.
Explaining how₹9,326.87 crore would be mobilised, Mahadev said tax revenue is around ₹2,750.25 crore, non-tax revenue of ₹2,503.92 crore and government grants of ₹3,665.31 crore. Government grants include ₹306.87 crore from the Central government, while the remaining is from the state government.
Revenue collections
During 2018-19 fiscal, the BBMP expects to collect property tax of ₹3,317 crore and advertisement tax is ₹75 crore. Under non-tax revenue, the BBMP proposes to collect ₹300 crore as betterment charges, ₹60 crore as service charges from the Centre and State government buildings, ₹90 crore as rents from its markets, ₹57 crore from trade licences, ₹ 200 crore from road cutting for optic fibre cables, ₹50 crore as mobile tower fee etc.
BBMP plans to spend ₹5,125.45 crore on maintenance and development works, and ₹1,066.88 crore on solid waste management. The total estimated expenditure, including electricity charges, administrative expenses, loan repayment, is ₹9,325.53 crore.