The city has undergone a major transformation with the slew of development works taken up and completed by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation during the past year, said Mayor Rayana Bhagyalakshmi.
Addressing a press conference on the civic body's performance in the city during the past year along with VMC Commisioner V. Prasanna Venkatesh and Deputy Mayors A. Sailaja and B. Durga, Ms. Bhagyalakshmi said the many development works which were neglected during the previous government's regime were taken up and completed successfully by the YSRCP government. She said more development works, including the replacement of decades-old pipelines and others were, in the pipeline.
Mr. Venkatesh said that 1,341 works were sanctioned under various grants in the year 2021 and so far 813 works worth ₹177 crore were completed and the remaining 528 works were in the pipeline.
During the 2021-22 fiscal, the civic body collected 45% of the target property tax (₹157 crore) and only 6% of the vacant land tax was collected so far. Similarly, only ₹20.48 crore out of ₹41.06 crore was collected towards water tax, he said.
Explaining the development works carried out during the past year Mr. Venkatesh said renovation of DRR Indoor Stadium, development of Eat Street, renovation of Chennupati Ramakotaiah Indoor Stadium, redevelopment of the swimming pool in Gurunanak Colony, strengthening and beautification of Payakapuram Cheruvu Bund, improvement of 12 major roads, enhancement of water supply capacity and filtration capacity, development of Gandhi Hill into a tourist spot, development of nine parks out of 13 were the major achievements of the corporation.
He said the city was ranked third in the Swachh Survekshan due to various initiatives taken up to improve the sanitation. He said litter-free zones were maintained in the city and several tech-based solid waste management initiatives were introduced.
Mr. Venkatesh said that ₹116.21 lakh was collected from the public as ‘user charge’ for garbage collection. A sum of ₹150 was charged per commercial property and ₹120 and ₹30 was charged on households in residential colonies and slums respectively, he said.
He said the civic body collected a fine of ₹30 lakh from persons and organisations for violation of COVID safety norms. He said the amount would be used to fight COVID pandemic when necessary. Mr. Venkatesh said the corporation also played a key role in implementing State government's schemes. He said about 99% of the eligible population were administered with at least one dose of vaccine against COVID-19.
More works
Mr. Venkatesh said the corporation was poised to take up more works in the coming year and transformation of Rajiv Gandhi Park into city-level theme park, improvement to major road corridors, the transformation of Besant Road into shoppers street, construction of urban entertainment and sports amusement theme park in Bhavanipuram, completion of Eco-Park at Ajith Singh Nagar, further development of Gandhi Hill and establishment of e-waste and flower waste recycling units are among them.
Ms. Sailaja said the city was at the forefront in development during the past two years and improving basic amenities and beautification was given importance. Mr. Durga said that the city aimed for the first rank in the Swachh Survekshan ranking 2022.
