Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: “The administration of Chhatrapati Sambhajiangar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) is going to demand Rs 300 crore from the State Government to smooth some more roads in the city. The DP roads around the city will be developed from this fund,” said G Sreekanth, the CSMC Administrator.
The Government gave the CSMC a big amount of fund for road development under the different projects. Initially, it was provided Rs 100 and later Rs 150 crore. Under the Smart City project, Rs 316 crore was received to construct 111 roads. The road works are underway from Rs 100 crore of its own fund.
Most of the roads in the city are now smooth with cement. In the next few days, there may remain no space left for development works in the city.
The Civic Body has not developed roads of the old development plan around the city. In addition, the new development plan is also awaiting final approval. A good number of roads were also included in it. A total of Rs 300 crores is required for the CSMC to increase connectivity from all sides of the city.
The funding proposal will be submitted to the Government soon. It is expected that the proposal may get approval from the Government keeping in view the upcoming assembly elections.
If the Government does not give fund for the roads, the Corporation may not be able to build roads for the next ten years from its own treasury. Because it will have to spend its revenue on loan instalments for the next decade.
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Deferred payment option under consideration
The Civic body has also an option for deferred payment if it does not get Government fund in the next few months. In this method, work is done by the contractor. The bill has to be paid in phases over the next three years. The Corporation has used this method in the past. Contractors charge more than the budgeted rate due to late payment. In this, the CSMC has to bear financial loss.