The Kozhikode Municipal Corporation estimates a financial loss of around ₹22.73 crore in the next four years as an aftereffect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.
A report recently submitted to Mayor Thottathil Raveendran by a committee entrusted to assess the severity of loss and find solutions, held that many of the projects envisioned in the previous corporation budget could not be implemented in the present scenario.
At the same time, there is uncertainty over the foreseen investments in corporation projects.
The committee has categorised the loss into three. The first is permanent loss in terms of revenue through entertainment tax and renting out corporation assets such as town hall and other auditoriums for private programmes. The permanent loss amounts to ₹4.5 crore.
The second is temporary loss in terms of remittance of property tax and trade licences amounting to around ₹19 crore. “This loss can be made up once the public come out of the lockdown and remit them. But until then, there will be shortage of funds that the corporation should tackle, Corporation Secretary Binu Francis said.
The third is loss in terms of private investment. However, the committee has suggested a few cost-cutting measures that are expected save up to ₹13 lakh. Further, a few new projects have been outlined to improve the financial condition of the civic body, which, if implemented, may bring home around ₹31.79 crore. Even with the foreseen troubles in the implementation of the projects, the corporation expects an additional revenue of around ₹21 crore.
The committee report now has to be approved by the finance standing committee of the corporation and then the council before its recommendations are implemented.
Meanwhile, the corporation registered more than 20% increase in revenue in the financial year 2019-20, which was used to pay off arrears to its employees. But the revenue came down steeply in the last two months, the report pointed out.
