Infrastructure development and waste management received maximum impetus in the Kollam Corporation Budget for 2025-2026 presented by Deputy Mayor S Jayan here on Tuesday.
The Budget envisages a surplus of ₹83.45 crore with a projected revenue of ₹1,228.57 crore and an expenditure of ₹1,145.12 crore. The Budget allocates ₹50 crore for the construction and renovation of Corporation roads, footpaths and drains while ₹20 crore has been earmarked for the Prakasha Nagarm project to install LED lights in all divisions. Providing new drinking water connections to 10,000 people, constructing overhead tanks, replacing old pipelines and commissioning the Njangadavu drinking water project get an allocation of ₹100 crore. A sum of ₹25 crore has been set aside for IT parks and infrastructure development in Kureepuzha and Andamukkam as part of the IT city project announced by the State government. As part of transforming Kollam into a hi-tech city, ₹10 crore will be used for modern bus shelters, beautification of roads and junctions, smooth traffic systems, sign boards, and neat footpaths. While ₹25 crore has been earmarked for constructing houses under the MPAY-LIFE project, ₹50 crore will be used for providing land for landless families in the general category. The Budget also has allocation of ₹2 crore for procuring land for a modern slaughter house.
To tackle wastewater management, ₹150 crore has been allocated. This will fund the activation of the Kureepuzha Sewage Treatment Plant, the installation of a city-wide sewage network, and the establishment of smaller, localised treatment plants. Jeevananu Ashtamudi Jeevikkanam Ashtamudi, a project to protect the Ashtamudi Ramsar site and restore its biodiversity, gets ₹25 crore for its second phase.
A further ₹50 crore will support comprehensive waste management initiatives. This includes ensuring 100% waste collection by the Haritha Karma Sena, ensuring organic waste processing at its source, developing public waste treatment facilities, mechanised aerobic units, setting up bottle collection points and CRADAI units, creating leaf collection areas, installing mini-sewage treatment plants, establishing septage waste treatment and mobile treatment plants, and deploying CCTV cameras in 200 locations. Also, ₹10 crore has been set aside for the cleaning and protection of all waterbodies within the Corporation’s jurisdiction, including Vattakayal.
The city is also pushing for greener initiatives, with plans to promote electric vehicles, plant more trees through social forestry programmes, and establish eco-clubs. To streamline services, the K-Smart system will be upgraded for increased efficiency. Improvements to office infrastructure, initiatives to support women entrepreneurs, construction of a shopping complex, an auditorium, and a multi-level car park near railway station figure in the Budget.
Published - March 25, 2025 09:03 pm IST
