Mumbai makeover remains a dream

MUMBAI: Finance minister Jayant Patil has not loosened the purse strings for chief min-ister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s Mumbai makeover dream. With only two years more in office before the DF faces election, the state budget was expected to make handsome allocations for Mumbai transformation projects. But a meagre provision of Rs 400 crore has been earmarked for projects approved under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM).

This too is not exclusively for Mumbai and covers all cities--Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, and Nanded--which will implement NURM projects. The vi-ability gap funding of Rs 350 crore for the first corridor of phase I of Mumbai Metro rail project which the state was speculated to bear, has also not been sanctioned.

The allocation has been made as state’s share--15% for cities with more than 4 million population and 20% for less than 4 million population--in the NURM projects. Mr Patil told the house that the Centre has sanctioned 61 projects for the entire state under worth Rs 5832 crore under NURM and released first in-stalment of Rs 356 crore.

This means the provision of Rs 400 crore in the 2007-08 budget will get di-vided into all cities that have received the central grants under NURM. Urban development gets Rs 2203 crore in the 2007-08 outlay but this allocation is also for the entire state. Later addressing a press conference, Mr Patil said 60% to 70% of the urban development allocation would be spent on Mumbai only.

On Mumbai, the budget speech was mostly a compilation of projects already proposed or approved by the state government Mr Patil said the centre has so far approved middle Vaitarana water supply project, Mumbai sewage disposal project, and two fly-overs. The state has submitted Mumbai-specific project proposals worth Rs 21,400 crore to the centre of which schemes estimated to cost Rs 10,400 crore have been approved, he added. The government intends to implement Nhava-Sewree trans-harbour link project through private invest-ment without any government equity, he said.