Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Maharashtra Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis July 14 approved the Asset Monetisation Policy to boost revenue for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
This aims to make ULBs financially self-reliant allowing Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils, and Nagar Panchayats to leverage their land and properties to generate new, sustainable revenue streams.
The policy has a primary objective of systematically and transparently developing civic-owned real estate. Eligible assets include vacant lands, buildings, commercial complexes, markets, and public utility spaces.
At present, Maharashtra features a vast urban governance network comprising 29 Municipal Corporations, 15 “A” Class Municipal Councils, 78 “B” Class Municipal Councils, 146 “C” Class Municipal Councils, and 743 Nagar Panchayats.
All of these bodies stand to benefit from the new framework. By unlocking the commercial value of underutilised assets, the state aims to achieve two major goals of enhanced financial autonomy and financing public infrastructure.
The policy hopes to reduce the heavy reliance of local bodies on Central and state government financial grants and channeling the newly generated revenue directly into critical civic amenities like water supply, sanitation, roads, healthcare, education, and public transport.
The policy permits ULBs to adopt PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) frameworks alongside other viable development models.
