Telangana government spent ₹1,21,294 crore on infrastructure, capital investment during 2014-23: MAUD report

The maximum increase in absolute terms happened in GHMC, where it went up by 850 percent during 2014-23 (with an investment of ₹44,021.99 crore) when compared with 2004-14 (₹4,636.38 crore).

This became possible because GHMC created project-based dedicated SPVs, or Special Purpose Vehicles, such as SRDP, CRMP, HRDC and SNDP during 2014-23, thus bringing a dedicated focus on urban infrastructure in Hyderabad.

GHMC could also raise resources through bonds and bank loans based on its own balance sheet during this period.

MA&UD Minister @KTRBRS speaking after launching @TSMAUDOnline's ten year report titled 'Telangana, Driving Growth through Urbanization'. https://t.co/Uplpxxs856

— KTR, Former Minister (@MinisterKTR) July 5, 2023

The growth in other departments were:

• Almost 3,614 percent growth in the Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration (CDMA), ie 141 urban local bodies, or ULBs, other than GHMC (from ₹598 crore to ₹22,210 crore, primarily due to the introduction of the Pattana Pragathi programme).

• 190 percent up in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB).

• 171 percent in Telangana Urban Finance Infrastructure Development Corporation (TUFIDC) — up to ₹7,803 crore primarily because of undertaking infra works under TUFIDC bank-linked programmes.

• More than 1,000 percent jump in the Public Health department budget (focusing on drinking water). among others.

If departments such as energy (increase in substations and transformers), health (Basti Davakhanas), R&B, education, and women & child welfare are also taken into consideration, then another ₹12,757 crore was spent in urban Telangana during the period, taking a total infra spending in Hyderabad and other cities to at least ₹1,34,051.28 crore.

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Major initiatives

According to the report, the major initiatives taken up during the last decade include:

• Creation of ward offices for all 150 wards in GHMC to ensure that the administration especially the grievance redressal mechanism is taken to the doorstep of the citizens.

• All preparatory Works on the Airport express, connecting Raidurg to Shamshabad Airport are completed and tenders to take up the works have been invited by HMRL.

• A dedicated Project based (with dedicated SPVs) approach for the development of city infrastructure in GHMC (& Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration), the state government has set up dedicated SPVs.

• Sunkishala Project: Sunkishala Intake Well project is taken up at ₹2,215 crore and completed about 60%. Upon completion, the project is expected to supply water to Hyderabad city even if there are consecutive failures of monsoon. About 60 TMC of water is expected to be drawn from this project.

• STPs Project: Implementation of sewerage master plan is taken up with construction of 31 STPs of 1,259.5 MLD capacity at a cost of ₹3,866 crore.Two STPs at Kokapet and Durgamcheruvu were already commissioned. A 100% sewerage treatment facility is expected to be established in Hyderabad by the end of September 2023.

• ORR Phase-II Water Supply Network Project: The water supply network project for ORR Phase-II extended areas is taken up at a cost of ₹1200 crores. Almost 75% works are completed. 165 reservoirs and 2900 km length of pipelines are being laid under this project which is expected to provide about 1 lakh new connections.  The project is aimed at supplying water at 150 LPCD to all the citizens of Hyderabad.

• 20 KL Free Water Supply Scheme: The government has continued the 20 KL free water supply scheme, which benefits about 1.5 lakh families with 5.9 lakh connections. Benefits worth about ₹870 crore is said to be extended to the public under this scheme.

• Waste To Energy (WTE): Telangana already has a 20 MW plant running based on waste to energy (WTE) from the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) at Jawahar Nagar under PPP mode. Four new plants (including doubling the capacity at Jawahar Nagar) are under construction.

The state is expected to produce 101 MW power from WTE by March 2025, utilising 5100 MTs of RDF which is about 15000 MTs of waste & thus ensuring the daily waste for the next three decades are processed on a daily basis for Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration.

In addition, a modern 2 MLD capacity leachate plant is fully operational at Jawahar Nagar. Further, bio-mining of 123 ULBs legacy waste has been taken up under 9 clusters.

In addition, FSTP (Fecal Sludge Treatment Plants) have been taken up in all ULBs. As many as 25 of them were ready and the rest would be ready by March 2024, said the report.