SMC budget not likely to make fund allocation for any big ticket project

SURAT: There is not much possibility of allocation of funds for any big ticket project in the annual budget of Surat Municipal Corporation to be presented in January next year, sources said. This will be third consecutive budget whose size will be almost same, they added.

SMC had presented a budget of Rs5,100 crore in 2016-17 and of Rs5,300 crore in 2017-18. The size of the budget to be presented by the civic body in January 2019 will be around Rs5,500 crore, sources said.

Municipal commissioner M Thennarasan said, “It is our conscious decision not to over estimate. The budget should be set in a reality mode. We want only bare minimum inclusions in the budget estimates. We have issue of increasing revenue expenditure every year and can’t be include projects which are not going to become a reality soon.”

There will be political pressure from ruling BJP to make announcement regarding some big ticket projects in the budget in view of parliamentary elections in May 2019, but administrators are in no mood to listen. Only fund allocation will be made for Rs890 crore Tapi Shuddhikaran Project and two tertiary water treatment plants in the budget.

“These projects will be a reality,” a civic officer said, adding that SMC income this year is expected to cross Rs3,000 crore. It was about Rs2,800 crore in 2017-18 and Rs2,650 crore in 2016-17.