Telangana MAUD spending on infrastructure up by 463 percent

MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao said the department had spent Rs 1,21,294 crore during 2014-2023

Hyderabad: Telangana has witnessed an exponential increase of 462.8 percent in spending from the Municipal Administration and Urban Development department for infrastructure and capital investment across the urban areas of the State, including Hyderabad, in the last ten years.

Revealing this while releasing a 10-year report of the MA&UD department, ‘Driving Growth through Urbanization’, along with an action plan for the next one year here on Wednesday, MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao said the department had spent Rs.1,21,294 crore during 2014-2023. This was in comparison with the Rs.26,211.5 crore spent from 2004-2014 by the previous government, an increase of 462.8 percent.

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Interestingly, 91.8 percent of the entire spending on infrastructure during 2014-2023, translating into a staggering Rs.1,11,360 crore was by the State government, with the Centre’s share being Rs.9,934 crore (8.2 percent).

Stating that even the harshest critic of the State would be forced to take note of the urban development in the last decade, the Minister said the maximum increase in absolute terms happened in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), where it went up by 850 percent during 2014-2023. The investment from the MA&UD during this period was Rs.44,021.99 crore, compared with the Rs.4636.38 crore that was spent from 2004-2014. The State’s dedicated focus on urban infrastructure in Hyderabad was made possible via project based SPVs such as SRDP, CRMP, HRDC and SNDP. The civic body also raised resources through bonds and bank loans based on its own balance sheet during this period, he said.

That was not all. The growth in other departments was also sky high. In the Commissioner and Director Municipal Administration (CDMA) – the 141 urban local bodies other than GHMC – the growth was a staggering 3614 percent, from Rs.598 crore to Rs.22,210 crore, courtesy the Pattana Pragathi programme. The growth in other departments included 190 percent in the HMWSSB, 171 percent in TUFIDC (up to Rs.7,803 crore) and more than 1000 percent in Public Health department budget (focusing on drinking water) among others.

The Minister said that if other departments such as Energy (increase in sub stations and transformers), health (Basti Dawakhanas), R&B, Education, and Woman and Child Welfare were included, another Rs.12,757 crore were spent in urban Telangana during 2014-2023. This would take the total infrastructure spending in Hyderabad and the State’s urban areas to at least Rs.1,34051.28 crore in the same period.

This unprecedented growth reaffirms the commitment of the State government on planned urban growth and development, he added.