Hyderabad: Bonds to make civic bodies strong

Hyderabad: As the State was reeling under severe financial crisis, the Telangana government has come up with a new policy decision of funding the municipalities through the municipal bonds.

The government has asked some of the urban local bodies in the State to raise funds through bonds or through pool funding and list out the works to be taken up under these funds. With the credit rating of ULBs completed, the authorities are planning to keep ready, the preliminary draft shelf of projects for raising funds.

A senior official in the Directorate of Municipal Administration said that the commissioners were asked to look for any gaps in the water supply after the Mission Bhagiratha works such as pumps, motors and pump stations, storage reservoirs, transmission and distribution mains. The commissioners were asked to prepare critical infrastructure investment plans for raising funds.

Similarly, they were told to look in the sewerage and solid waste management for works like sewerage network, collectors and trunk sewers, treatment plants, roads, bridges including by-pass, link roads, flyovers and other municipal operated services like parks, medians and greenery development-urban lung space developments, bus stands, recreational areas, including town beautification and development of water bodies.

The official said that these works were indicative areas for preparing the shelf of projects for raising of finance, which gives efficient citizen civic services, and also projects of infrastructure which give impressive facelift or image to the urban local bodies. The municipalities/ corporations which are asked to prepare draft shelf of project for raising funds include Siddipet, Warangal, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Ramagundam, Khammam, Badangpet, Bandlaguda Jagir, Meerpet, Boduppal, Peerzadiguda, Jawaharnagar, Nizampet, Kamareddy, Jagtial, Miryalguda, Suryapet, Adilabad and Mahbubnagar.

Earlier in the past, the government had listed the bonds for GHMC on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and it received overwhelming response and the Corporation was able to raise Rs 195 crore and these funds were being used in the SRDP (Strategic Road Development Plan) works for laying bridges and flyovers in the city.

Director Municipal Administration N Satyanarayana has asked the commissioners to initially form a working group comprising of engineering, town planning, sanitation and MEPMA (Mission for elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas) officials for identifying the works.

The group, after discussing, would talk to the public representatives and prepare a preliminary shelf of projects. The officials were asked to give less priority to works which are routine in nature and those can be taken up with municipal general funds.

The officials have been asked to send shelf project details by February 26.