[mpisgmedia] ULBs on the reform path, as BMC leads the way

[image: The Financial Express] <http://www.financialexpress.com/> * States*



*ULBs on the reform path, as BMC leads the way*

Dilip Bisoi

* * A public garden in Chandrasekharpur housing colony, downtown Bhubaneswar
city, is looking green today. Thanks to the local ladies tending it. In
Maitri Janpath locality of the city, a deep bore-well is working smoothly,
as local residents have become the property's custodians.

The arrangement is part of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation's (BMC)
initiative for citizen participation in urban management. The BMC is in a
reform mode. And most of the urban local bodies in Orissa are gearing up to
usher sweeping reforms in municipal functioning to take the advantage of the
Centre's Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM).

Almost all the 103 ULBs, including the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation
(BMC) and the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), have initiated processes
for augmentation of revenue by resorting to revision of various taxes and
strengthening the collections. The ULBs have increased the property tax by
60% following a directive from the state government in 2005. They have begun
computerisation across offices, and the state government has provided Rs 2
lakh to each body. They are switching over to double entry accounting
system. And are now outsourcing services instead of going for fresh
recruitment.

Leading the pack, however, is the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. The BMC
has handed over street light maintenance of 12 of its wards to private
concerns. It is now outsourcing the service of NGOs such as Jagruti and
Vikash for sanitation works in as many as 14 wards. The Corporation has also
prepared the ground for handing over the maintenance of 24 parks in the city
to local residents. "Though it is difficult to usher in reforms in the
existing system, urban bodies have to be made self reliant," says the
Bhubaneswar mayor, Mihir Mohanty.

Ever since Mohanty took over as the mayor three years ago, the corporation's
revenue increased from Rs 30 crore to a projected Rs 140 crore in 2006-07.
The collection from holding tax, which increased from 11% to 17% recently,
has reached Rs 11 crore from Rs 2 crore earlier.

Initiating the PPP model (public-private-partnership), the corporation is
now putting up a massive market complex – Bhawani Market Complex – in Saheed
Nagar area of the city. It has joined Keshri Builders, a private realtor,
for construction of a posh air-conditioned market mall–A/C Market–in Unit 2
area of the city.

Solid waste is truly an urban nightmare. BMC now proposes to set up a plant
in the private sector for generation of power from solid waste. The
state-government concern, Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA)
is to select a private partner for the project. As the solid waste generated
by the BMC is not enough to feed a plant, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation
will be a taken as a partner in the project. BMC has entrusted the USAID to
prepare the package for introduction of the double entry accounting system.

"As urban bodies are starved of funds and are not able to build adequate
urban infrastructure to meet the demand, the JNNURM fund is irresistible,"
says mayor Mohanty. To tap the fund, BMC has prepared a city development
plan (CDP) projecting a fund requirement of Rs 3,330 crore.

If Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation is right on the reform path, small
urban bodies like the Belpahar, Brajrajnagar, Rayagada are now initiating
the process of reform by outsourcing services for sanitation and maintenance
of street lights. Perhaps, the winds of reforms may lend a new lease of life
to the towns of Orissa.

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