Sanitation gets lion’s share of Delhi’s municipal budget

The budget also included proposals to set up 20 new multilevel parking lots, and three new dog shelters in Dwarka, Bijwasan and Bela Road

New Delhi: Municipal commissioner Ashwani Kumar on Friday presented the municipal budget for the 2026-27 financial year, with an estimated expenditure of ₹16,530 crore, of which 29.01% has been reserved for sanitation works. There was no proposed property tax revision, amid a deepening financial crisis, with liabilities of over ₹15,791 crore.

The Civic Centre, from where the MCD operates. (HT Archive)

MCD commissioner said that 20 more multi-level parking facilities are being proposed in the city at the critical locations and three new dog shelters will come up in Dwarka, Bijwasan and Bela Road. He announced integration of the health trade licence regime for eateries, hotels and restaurants, on the lines of reforms made in the factory and general trade licensing.

“A landmark reform has been introduced for business owners: The processes for obtaining Factory Licenses and General Trade Licenses have now been fully integrated with the property tax system. Citizens will no longer be required to submit separate applications or upload documents. Instead, they may simply pay the required license fee along with their property tax and download the license directly, making the process seamless and hassle-free. As part of the ongoing Ease of Doing Business reforms, a similar integration is expected to be introduced for Health Trade Licenses as well,” he said in press conference after the speech.

Last year, the MCD had cleared projected budget estimates of more than ₹17,012 crore, which has been brought down to ₹16,296 crore in the revised budget estimates of 2025-26.

The sanitation sector received the highest allocation of ₹4,795.28 crore, at 29.01%, with an aim to enhance waste collection and municipal waste processing systems.

After sanitation, the next highest allocation, at 21.47%, was for general administration. This was followed by 15.25% for education, 11.53% for public health and medical relief, and 11.4% for public works and streetlighting.

MCD is procuring 60 mechanical road sweepers and 60 battery-operated litter pickers.

The commissioner said that repair work on around 600km of roads is expected to be completed.

In terms of waste management, the commissioner outlined inviting bids for four new waste processing plants at Bhalswa, Singhola, Okhla and Bawana, with a cumulative capacity to process 5,100 tonnes per day. Setting up of an ingesta waste treatment plant at the Ghazipur slaughterhouse and expanding waste-to-energy plants are also on the cards.

MCD officials said the property tax revenue target was revised from ₹4,000 crore to ₹3,500 crore, causing a reduction in the budget. Revenue target for conversion charges was also reduced from ₹600 crore to ₹220 crore.

Municipal commissioner Ashwani Kumar said that no new taxes will be imposed, but administrative and financial reforms would continue, including increasing revenue from property tax, advertising and licensing.

The commissioner said that the municipal corporation has liabilities of ₹15,791 crore. Of this, ₹7,009.76 crore is for employee dividends and pending payments under the 7th and 6th Pay Commissions, while ₹520 crore is for contractor payments. The MCD has an outstanding loan of ₹8,262 crore.

Kumar said that they initiated the process of collecting user charges for garbage collection, but have not implemented the same. It will be revised and implemented afresh, he said.

After the completion of the budget speech, standing committee chairperson Satya Sharma said that the committee has been formed after 2.5 years but it is being bypassed by the officers to bring proposals directly to the house. She also expressed displeasure over removal of her officer on special duty.