According to a data revealed, it has come to light that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has spent only 37 per cent of its current fiscal’s capital budget until December last year.
This development came at a time when BMC’s budget 2023-24 is scheduled to take place on February 2.
The budget outlay for capital expenditure of this fiscal was estimated at INR 22,646.73 crores, of which BMC has spent only INR 8,398.35 crores.
As per official privy to the budget, the upcoming budget is likely to focus on infrastructure, health, education for girls and other women-centric and development initiatives.
Elucidating about the spending of 2022-23’s budget, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal stated that it is usual for a large chunk, say about 60-70 per cent, to be spent in January, February and March. It is quite normal for figures till December to show low expenditure. BMC has done a lot of work this year, and budget implementation will be high.
A senior official exclaimed that they are confident of capital expenditure to cross 90 per cent for most departments as most of the expenses happens in the last two months.
As BMC has planned major infrastructure projects this year, in the upcoming budget, infrastructure and development work will likely see a significant capital budget outlay.
This month (January) itself, BMC has issued work orders for cement concretisation of roads with the total cost of the project pegged at about INR 6,000 crore.
The budget is usually presented by the municipal commissioner to the mayor and the chairman of the standing committee. However, this year, there is no standing committee in BMC (only the second time in BMC’s history for the budget), hence civic body commissioner IS Chahal, its state-appointed administrator since March last year, will present the budget and also grant it approval.
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