'Best City' Hyderabad Yearns For More Developmental Funds
Presenting a pro-poor state Budget for financial year 2017-18 on March 13, Telangana Finance Minister Eatela Rajender introduced welfare scheme for women and weavers. However, Hyderabad was left hoping for more as the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, the Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) and the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) haven't been the major beneficiaries of the announcements made in the Budget. This despite that fact that over 40 per cent of the people live in urban areas in the capital city and the government has promised to make urban development a focus area.
However, real estate still gets to gain much from several new announcements:
- The Warangal Municipal Corporation gets Rs 300 crore. The region previously did garner attention when the talks about a potential capital were still doing the rounds. Along with Warangal, Karimnagar, Khammam and Nizamabad would get a push from the authorities. Chief Minister KC Rao had said that Warangal had been focused upon as to make it the second-largest city after Hyderabad. Warangal has also had the privilege of being included among Heritage, AMRUT and Smart Cities categories.
- Urban infrastructure may have taken a backseat in terms of funds but has definitely not missed the limelight altogether. Extra budgetary resources will be provided for undertaking any civic and physical infrastructural development. Funds would be raised through loans from financial institutions. However, such debt pressure has met with criticism altogether.
- The FM has allotted Rs 3,000 crore for the Mission Bhagiratha, the piped drinking water initiative. To an extent, this addresses the problem of unavailability of clean drinking water in cities that are touted as development centres.
- The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has received Rs 976 crore for infrastructure upgrade.
- Besides, the information technology sector has also been a beneficiary with a little over Rs 250 crore in its kitty.
The more the merrier
However, funds are not enough. The Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP) and the 2BHK housing project itself require almost Rs 3,500 crores for successful completion. The balance is expected to be raised through municipal bonds and rupee-term loans. Overall, the GHMC had asked for Rs 2,018 crore for roads, drains and the two bedroom housing project. But the Budget that provides for Rs 5,599 crore to the municipalities has not allocated funds for drainage improvement. The Telangana State Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (TSUIDC) may look into this.
Besides, KCR's pet project of 2BHK housing schemes have also not attracted funds. Almost 2.60 lakh 2BHK units were part of the housing for the scheme. By end of February, only 1,426 homes were constructed. Work is on for the next 16,068 homes but for the remaining, tenders have still to be floated. Because of the low costs, developers have not expressed interest while the government has been urging them to take it up as part of their social responsibility. Helping this cause through loans will definitely be difficult.
Hyderabad flying
Human resource consultant Mercer has placed Hyderabad as the best city in India in terms of living standard. This is the third time in a row that the city has donned this cap. The survey included rankings of electricity supply, drinking water, communication services, transport, traffic and even international flights. Besides, other important determinants such as crime rates, air quality and reputed schools were also factored in. With some push from the government and authorities, there is no reason why Hyderabad will not be a gainer.
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