Presenting a staggering Rs 37,052 crore budget for 2016-17, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday proposed to raise an additional Rs 500 crore revenue by way of increasing the rate of Octroi on crude oil from 3 per cent to 4.5 per cent ad valorem and made an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for the ambitious Mumbai coastal road project.
In an otherwise citizen-friendly budget presented by Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta before the civic standing committee, the Shiv Sena-ruled BMC virtually ignored the Smart City project by allocating a mere Rs 10 crore for the project. The measly allocation to the Smart city project should be understood in the light of the fact that Mumbai did not figure in the first list of 20 smart cities announced by Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu last week.
Not unexpectedly, the 2017 poll-BMC did not propose any additional direct taxes for Mumbaikars. However, the Municipal Commissioner used the increase the octroi on crude oil as a means to mobilise as much as Rs 500 crore during the forthcoming financial year.
“Due to drastic reduction in the prices of crude oil in the international market, the Octroi recovered on import of crude oil has been declining since last 2 years and in current financial year by approximately Rs 600 crore. As such, it is proposed to increase the rate of Octroi on crude oil from 3% to 4.5% ad valorem, which will fetch additional revenue of Rs 500 crore at current price,” Mehta said.
In two other fiscal measures, Mehta announced that the BMC had developed software for refund of octroi and announced the abolition of octroi on Ethanol.
However, in a major infrastructure development push for Mumbai, the BMC proposed an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for the Mumbai Coastal Road project.
The Rs 10,000 crore prohect will not only de-congest the traffic in the metropolis but would also help create 91 hectares of green spaces along the ambitious road linking the southern-most tip of the metropolis with the northern suburbs. The coastal road project received an environmental clearance from the Centre in June last year.
To be constructed along the western coastline from Nariman Point in south Mumbai to Kandivli in north Mumbai, the 35 km road will have four lanes – two of which will be reserved for Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) to make public transport more effective in the city.