Navi Mumbai: Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) commissioner Rajesh Narvekar on Friday presented a Rs 4,925 crore budget with a surplus of Rs 2.5 crore. The budget proposed no increase in any taxes for the 2023-24 financial year.
While presenting the budget for the financial year 2023-24, Mr Narvekar said that the focus is to complete the ongoing projects instead of making announcements of new projects for popularity. “My intention is clear to complete the ongoing projects and adequate funds have been made available in the budget,” said Mr Narvekar.
NMMC chief Rajesh Narvekar | FPJ
Property tax targets to be missed
Property tax is one of the major sources of revenue of NMMC. However, during the financial year 2022-23, the civic body will miss the target of property tax collections. The civic body expects to collect around Rs 575 crores by end of March 2023 while it had estimated to collect Rs 804.47 crores during the current fiscal. “We missed the target due to the non-availability of data from the ongoing Lidar survey for properties in the city. We faced some technical problems in the survey and new properties could not be included in the tax collections,” said Mr Narvekar. He added that the civic body has started getting data from the survey and in fact, during 2023-24, the property tax collection will be more than estimated at Rs 801 crores.
After the implementation of GST, the civic body does not collect local body taxes. So, the civic body has proposed to receive Rs 1506 crores grants from the state government.
No debt on NMMC
While interacting with the media, Civic chief Mr Narvekar informed that there is no debt on NMMC. “The civic body had taken a loan of Rs 568.84 from MMRDA at 10 percent interest in 2099 and it had paid the principal and Rs 90 lakh as interest by December 12, 2022,” said Mr Narvekar.
The education budget has increased by around 16 percent more than the previous year. The civic body proposed to spend Rs 184.48 crores. The civic body will focus on sports education for students studying in civic schools.
As the air pollution of Navi Mumbai is deteriorating, the civic body will buy dust suppression vehicles and install an air purifier tower in the city.
In Numbers:
Financial year 2023-24
Estimated income: Rs 4925 crores
Estimated expenses: 4922.5 crores
Surplus: Rs 2.5 corres
Income:
Property Taxes: Rs 801 crores
Development Charge: Rs 360 crore
Water charge: Rs 108 crores
Expenses:
Civic facilities: Rs 1318 crore
Health: Rs 274 crores
Education: 184 crores
Administrative expenses: Rs 752 crores
Important points:
· Provision of funds for connecting Amra Marg with the Sion-Panvel highway via sectors 11, 15 and Diwale Gaon in Belapur
· Funds allocation for the flyover over the railway line connecting Jui Nagar-Sanpada
· Provision of Rs 372 crores for extension of Palm Beach road from Ghansoli
· Commercial complex at Koparkhairane and Belapur bus depots to be developed on the line of Vashi
· Funds allocation for cleaning of holding ponds and nullah
· Funds for a playground for disabled children
· Skill Training for third genders
