HYDERABAD: For the first time in the history of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, the draft budget has cross the five-digit mark. The draft budget for the next financial year for the city corporation has been prepared for an amount of `13,150 crore —double the current budget. The draft budget proposals were placed for discussion at the Standing Committee meeting, chaired by Mayor Bonthu Rammohan, on Thursday. At the same time, the Revised Budget Estimate for 2017-18 has been changed to `7,661.79 crore, against the earlier estimate of `5,643 crore. The revised budget includes Revenue Income (`2905.28 crore) and Capital Expenditure (`5,151.79 crore) showing a surplus of `396 crore.
Bonthu Rammohan said that majority of the draft budget for 2018-19 , ie, `6317.69 crore (50 per cent) has been earmarked for the Housing scheme where one lakh double bedrooms houses are proposed in the city for which government will bear the cost. For current year it has been revised to `2,330 crore, he added. To implement the Strategic Road Development Plan, `2,224 has been earmarked under roads and pavements category, `626 crore for water and sewerage improvement systems in GHMC limits, ` 351 crore for improvement in storm water drains, `411 crore for land and land improvement.
`144 crore for street lighting and others. He said that RBE for 2017-18 has been revised from `5,643 to `7,661 crore which is `2,018 crore more. For housing, the budget has been revised from `400 crore to `2,330 crore. For water and sewerage improvement systems in GHMC limits, it was revised to `377 crore from `153 crore.
While the budget for the current year proposed was `1,611 crore under Roads and Pavement head, now it has been revised to `1,445 crore. Unfortunately till date, not even `100 crore has been spent. Nearly `300 crore was revised estimates for capital expenditure on storm water drains, the amount spent during the first six months remains at `12.87 crore.