Surat Municipal Corporation to issue Rs 200 crore bond to fund sewage treatment plant

SURAT: Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) will be for the first time issuing bond worth Rs200 crore to fund its project of sewage treatment plant in the city. The general board of the civic body gave its in principle approval to the proposal on Friday. Centre will give SMC an interest subsidy of Rs26 crore on the bond under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation.
The local authorities estimate the sewage treatment plant to be incur a cost of Rs420 crore and issuance of bond is a pre-arrangement to raise fund for the project in the city whose population is growing at a phenomenal rate of 70 per cent per decade. The civic body will get 70 per cent of funding for the project under various central and state government schemes.
“We have got in principle approval from the general board to issue the bond. The central government had announced an incentive to first 10 cities that come up with such a proposal. For each Rs100 crore raised through the bond, the incentive announced is Rs13 crore,” standing committee chairman Anil Goplani said.
The work on the sewage treatment plant is expected to begin in the second half of 2019.