Noida budget approved, 19% higher than last year

This time, the biggest share of the annual budget has been allocated for civil work, with Rs1,474.74 crore allocation.

The Noida authority on Friday, in its 196th board meeting, approved a budget of ₹5,827 crore for the financial year 2019-2020 for development projects to be carried out in the city. The budget for the coming financial year is around 19% higher than the allotment for the previous financial year.

Noida budget approved, 19% higher than last year (Photo by Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times)(HT Photo)

The authority had approved a ₹4,900 crore budget for the financial year 2018-2019.

This time, the biggest share of the annual budget has been allocated for civil work, with Rs1,474.74 crore allocation.

“We allocated funds for all key departments, including civil, water, electrical and health, among others,” Alok Tandon, chief executive officer, Noida authority, said.

The authority has allocated Rs1,474.74 crore for civil projects, such as elevated roads, road resurfacing or underpass, ₹431.13 crore for the water department, ₹429.65 crore for the electrical department, ₹251.45 crore for health department and ₹100 crore for the horticulture department.

Other important decisions taken in the board meeting are related to permissions for resident welfare associations (RWA), which want to run clubs in community centres in residential areas. RWAs, for a long time, have been asking to turn their community centres into clubs so that residents can enjoy all facilities available in clubs, including kitchen, bar and sports activities. All residents of a particular area will get membership of the club of the respective sector.

The authority has also decided to give more time for the builders to reschedule their land dues. The Noida authority allows builders to “reschedule” dues, wherein the number of payments, the quantum of each period, as well as the total time period within which payments need to be made, can be adjusted. Builders together owe around ₹15,000 crore in land dues to the authority.

The authority had, since 2006-07, started allotting housing land to builders after accepting 10% of the total land cost. They were supposed to repay the land dues within 8 years, in instalments. However, builders misused the homebuyers’ funds and failed to either deliver flats or repay their dues to the Noida authority, officials said. The authority has now given more time for the builders to repay their dues. Additionally, the authority has decided to regularise 10% of all illegal constructions in flats in sectors 21, 25, 28, 29 and 37.

The authority has also increased the rent for government staff houses from Rs100 per square metre to ₹200 per square metre.

It has also approved a proposal to appease farmers who have been on a sit-in protest for the past 20 days, demanding compensation in lieu of land which the authority had acquired.

Under this proposal, the authority will provide farmers with residential plots up to 10% of the area of land that they previously gave up, as compared to the previous compensation offer of 5%.

However, this proposal is dependent on the state government’s approval.