CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation’s budget will be presented only in the second week of April, after the standing committees are elected.
Multiple sources said the budget is unlikely to have any new projects or emphasis on revenue generation. Instead, the focus would be on projects announced in the last two state budgets such as Singara Chennai 2.0, storm water drain projects for flood mitigation, and Smart City Mission.
Mayor R Priya said they had begun holding meetings on the budget. “We will release the budget only after discussions with the standing committees and follow due procedure. So it will definitely be in April second week only,” she said.
The civic body needs to come up with sustainable projects that will reduce future expenditure and help earn income, said Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of Arappor Iyakkam.
As per the previous year’s budget, 2,438 crore was the capital expenditure estimated for 2021-2022 and the income was around 2,084 crore. The deficit will only be larger this time due to Covid-19 expenditure and floods in the city.
“Be it roads or storm water drains, the corporation needs to focus on the quality of work as it would help save a lot of money. Relaying roads once in three years is a waste of money. The focus needs to be on revenue generation projects that hasn’t been spoken about in the last ten years,” said Venkatesan.
