The Vijayawada Guntur Tenali Mangalagiri – Urban Development Authority (VGTM-UDA) has approved a deficit budget for the year 2014-15.
The UDA Board met here on Monday to discuss various issues apart from annual budget. The budget approved by the Board evidently points out that the UDA will not take up any new project in the next financial year.
The total outlay is Rs. 238.82 crore, and a deficit of Rs. 4 crore is shown in the budget. While the total estimated revenue is Rs. 234.82, the total estimated expenditure is pegged at Rs. 238.82. The UDA has not announced any new projects in the budget.
Disclosing the details, UDA chairman Vanukuri Srinivasa Reddy said that the authority has been facing financial crisis as the government was not sanctioning funds for the development works.
The UDA was depending solely on its own revenue for the payment of salaries, administrative expenses and other works.
Despite the odds, the UDA has earmarked Rs. 8.5 crore for the construction of the roads and Rs. 5 crore for the housing for the poor in the budget.
HousingThe UDA had identified land in Payakapuram area in the city, he said, adding, the authority would explore the possibility of taking up housing there.
The UDA also has plans to develop the land on 60:40 sharing basis, if the land owners were willing to do so, and take up housing projects.
Referring to the projects in Guntur district, Mr. Reddy said that they were planning to construct a Buddha statue in the Amaravathi township. The UDA also has chalked out plans to acquire the land for the third and fourth phases of IRR, which covers a distance of 2 km and connects JKC College Road and Palakaluru.
The fourth phase of IRR connects Challavaripalem on NH-5 to the third phase ending at Palakaluru.
The UDA approved laying the third and fourth phases of IRR. A joint survey by the UDA and GMC would be taken up shortly, he said. VMC Commissioner C. Hari Kiran, UDA Vice Chairman P. Usha Kumari and others were present.
