First separate budgets of city corporations to focus on parks, lakes and welfare funds

As Bengaluru’s civic administration moves to a five-corporation structure, each of the city’s newly formed corporations has begun preparing its own budget and inviting public suggestions, while the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) will present a separate budget. This is the first time budgets are being drawn up separately for individual corporations, alongside a city-level authority.

The proposed budget outlay for each corporation is expected to be in the range of ₹1,300 crore to ₹1,500 crore, and higher for East and North corporations, officials said.

Municipal bonds

One of the focus areas in this year’s budgets will be municipal bonds. The budget, GBA officials said, would flag projects to be taken up through municipal bonds. “Municipal bonds allow urban local bodies to raise long-term funds directly from the market for capital-intensive infrastructure works such as roads, drains, parks and lakes. Unlike routine budgetary spending, bond financing requires corporations to identify stable revenue sources for repayment, such as property tax or user charges, and to maintain stronger financial discipline. Outlining bond-funded projects in the budget marks a shift from complete dependence on State grants and towards more structured, market-linked financing,” a senior official said.

The budget would also look at various revenue generation models at the corporation level. Since this is the first time corporations would be presenting individual budgets, GBA is guiding them on how to go about the outlay, and what to consider, among other things, the official added.  

Lakes, parks to be prioritised

North Corporation Commissioner Pommala Sunil Kumar said the corporation’s budget would focus on improving parks, lakes and footpaths. He said all parks would be provided with toilets and that existing gym equipment would be properly maintained. Revenue models such as paid parking are also being expanded at a larger scale to support upkeep and recurring expenses.

Sanitation would form a major component of the budget, Mr. Kumar said, adding that the corporation plans to improve garbage processing and packaging and introduce a mix of low-capacity and high-capacity machinery, depending on ward-level requirements.

Welfare spending

A senior GBA official told The Hindu that ‘welfare spending’ would be given higher priority across all corporations this year. Typically, about 25% of municipal funds go towards statutory deductions such as salaries, pensions and other mandatory payments. Around 60% is usually spent on civic works and service delivery, with the remaining amount kept for emergencies. This year, however, officials plan to set aside nearly 15% to 20% of funds for welfare from the start of the budgeting process.

“These allocations will include funds for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and backward classes and will largely be directed towards pourakarmikas and other civic workers,” the official said, adding that the aim is to ensure that welfare spending is built into the budget.

GBA budget

Highlighting how the GBA budget will be different from those of the individual corporations, a senior GBA official said the authority’s budget would not list specific projects and would largely remain an expenditure statement, with all project-related activities being routed through corporation-level funding.