BMC chief Ajoy Mehta set aside Rs1,000 crore for the coastal road, while Rs130 crore was kept for GMLR. No new mega projects, however, were announced. Even the plan for the revamp of the Byculla zoo was trimmed to only Rs100 crore.
While the BMC budget for 2016-17 has a slew of innovative projects and schemes, there are no new big-ticket projects. Long-pending projects such as the coastal road and Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) were carried forward from the previous budgets.
BMC chief Ajoy Mehta set aside Rs1,000 crore for the coastal road, while Rs130 crore was kept for GMLR. No new mega projects, however, were announced. Even the plan for the revamp of the Byculla zoo was trimmed to only Rs100 crore.
"The budget is one with no salt and pepper. There is no new project or innovation. The same old projects have been carried forward. There are some new schemes and policies but they are very small and won't have any pan-Mumbai impact. We were expecting some big-ticket projects considering the city is growing so fast," said MNS group leader in BMC, Sandip Deshpande.
BMC officials said the civic body was focussing on smaller and ongoing projects in the coming financial year and ambitious projects have been avoided. The next civic poll is scheduled for early 2017. Officials added that the civic administration was not very keen to take up new projects as the BMC's key sources of revenue — Octroi and developmental charges – had seen a significant dip.
Many big projects, such as a theme park at Mahalaxmi racecourse, did not find any mention in the budget. "The budget was very ordinary. There was nothing big and special. The BMC has only stressed on routine projects.
There should have been more application of mind and a vision for the city," said Samajwadi Party group leader in BMC, Rais Shaikh.
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