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After Lucknow Municipal Corporation floats bond, Ghaziabad civic body to follow suit
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation will soon bring its bond at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). CM Yogi was addressing
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation will soon bring its bond at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). CM Yogi was addressing a gathering in Mumbai at the occasion of the listing of Lucknow Municipal Corporation’s bond at the BSE.
It was in July 2019 when the UP cabinet approved the proposal of floating government bonds by the municipal corporations of Lucknow and Ghaziabad to fund their infrastructure projects. Bonds amounting to ₹350 crore, including ₹200 crore for Lucknow and ₹150 crore for Ghaziabad, were proposed to be floated.
“Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of municipal bodies in the country. Nearly 80 million people live in urban areas. In a bid to provide better infrastructure and facilities, we have listed bond for Lucknow Municipal Corporation — the first civic body in north India to do so. After Lucknow, we will ask the civic body of Ghaziabad to do the same. This move will help in bringing in transparency and financial discipline in their workings, along with creating healthy competition,” UP CM said during the event in Mumbai.
CM Yogi participated in the traditional ‘bell-ringing ceremony’ to release the bond in Heritage Hall of BSE on Wednesday and described the listing of the bond as “the starting of a new era” in the history of the state.
“This step is important to change the fundamental work culture of municipal corporations in the state and will help not only Lucknow in augmenting infrastructural facilities and funding but also motivate other corporations t do the same. To work in such a direction, Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation will soon bring its bond in BSE,” the CM said in the presence of entrepreneurs, investors, and BSE officials at Mumbai.
For Ghaziabad, bonds worth ₹150 crore are proposed to be floated for the purpose of a project, which is intended to supply treated water to industrial units at a price. “The project is estimated at about ₹236 crore and rest of the funds will be roped in through the fourteenth and fifteenth finance commissions. The supply of water will also help in generating revenue and it will be sold at a price to industrial units,” said an officer of the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, who wished not to be named.
According to the initial project report, the corporation’s sewage treatment plant (STP) at Indirapuram has a net output of 40 MLD. The project is estimated to generate a net return of ₹325.43 crore after 15 years of commissioning.
The officials said that the last detailed project report was prepared in November 2019. “There are several steps which we are taking up and the balance sheet for the current fiscal is getting finalised. We already have A+ rating while other documentation is being processed as per the guidelines. The detailed project report has some cost escalation and only the revised costing needs to be incorporated. With all these steps, it is likely that we finish the pending works in February,” the officer, said.
Municipal commissioner MS Tanwar said that the work for the bond got slowed down a bit but it is being expedited. “We have now initiated the process once again and we are expediting all works for the purpose of floating the bond,” he added.
