KOCHI: Infrastructure, Housing, and Social Welfare will be the main areas the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) will focus on during the 2017-18 financial year(FY).
The annual budget approved by the GCDA Governing Council on Wednesday expected an income of Rs 204.60 crore and an expenditure of `166.54 crore, with a surplus of Rs38.06 crore.
According to GCDA chairman C N Mohanan, the budget envisages projects for the infrastructure development of the Greater Cochin region.
“The State Budget will be presented on March 3 and so the GCDA wanted its budget to be presented at least by now. Then only we will get some time to send the proposals to the government so as to get the budgetary allocation,” he said.
The GCDA chief said the denial of income tax exemption was a major setback which had upset the GCDA’s financial plans. Earlier, the GCDA enjoyed income tax exemption. But after the relaxation was scrapped, the huge annual income tax liability badly hit the development projects mooted by the Authority. However, he sounded upbeat on the agency’s ability to complete the projects with the support of the government, public and other sections.
Mohanan said the GCDA also expects to mop up revenue through revenue recovery(RR) proceedings.
“We hope an amount of `10 crore can be recovered out of the total arrears on revenue this year,” he said.
Regarding some of the projects which were implemented by the previous council, Mohanan said all of them had not been shelved.
“In the case of some projects like the Laser show, we will explore the possibility of reviving it. We have already discussed the prospect of roping in some expert agency to manage the Laser show,” he said. On the progress achieved in some of the ongoing projects, Mohanan said 40 per cent of the renovation works at the Kaloor market had been completed.
“Some areas of the Kaloor-Kathrikkadavu Road are in a poor shape and the relaying of the 1.8 km stretch is yet to be completed,” said the chairman.