BMC Budget may focus on infra, revenue amid rising costs | Mumbai News

Mumbai: The BMC Budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 will be released in the first week of Feb. Last year, the total size of the budget was Rs 60,000 crore, and it may grow further this year.
In preparation to the Budget, the civic body sought suggestions and objections from citizens, receiving around 2,700 responses so far. Officials said that a number of these responses focus on improving the deteriorating condition of BEST services. While the budget is unlikely to feature big-ticket project announcements, efforts are underway to strengthen the BMC’s financial health in the light of ongoing mega projects such as the Coastal Road from Versova to Dahisar (north), the Rs 12,000 crore road concretisation project, and the Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) tunnels.
Officials warned that although payments for these works are not due immediately, they will begin in two years and could strain the corporation’s finances, necessitating careful preparation. One promising revenue source is premiums from redevelopment projects, said an official, especially given the city’s current surge in redevelopment activity. “A property tax hike will also be necessary as the same has not happened for the past ten years. While we are not considering levying user fees on solid waste or imposing any toll on projects like the coastal road, we need to try and see that all major projects rolled out are made self-sustainable,” said a BMC official.
Further, the official also said, “We have put two civic properties up for lease, expecting to generate revenue from them. A tender has already been floated for the Worli plot. Regarding the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) plot, objections were raised by fishermen requesting space within it. However, they have already been allocated space in the adjacent plot. Once this matter is clarified, we plan to float a tender for the CSMT plot as well. As for the Malabar Hill plot, which was also considered for leasing, objections from BEST due to transmission lines passing through the area have led us to exclude it from the plan.”
In Oct last year, the BMC improvements department issued an e-tender proposing to auction three municipal properties (at Worli, CSMT, and Malabar Hill) for a period of 30 years, renewable for another 30 years on a lease basis.