Kochi: The Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC) is planning to collect tax with private participation. It may employ the services of a private agency for listing the buildings in the corporation area and obtaining their physical details so as to reassess the building taxes they have to pay.
 The proposal, which deviates from the decades-long practice of deploying the corporation staff for the job, is likely to feature in the corporation budget that is to be presented on 23 March 2002. The finance section of the corporation is giving final touches to a proposal for making tax collection effective and taxpayer-friendly by arranging the collection through banks.
Also, a proposal for assigning the task of revenue-collecting to a private agency on a commission basis is yet to get the green signal from the Left Democratic Front-led corporation. What can be called as a privatisation move by the LDF-ruled corporation, the front, which has been opposing the privatisation efforts by state and central governments, is yet to clear the proposal, say sources.
The corporation may also revise the building tax, based on the total area of the building, and this is expected to bring in more revenue to the corporation. Though the corporation may spare the commoners, corporate giants and channels, which have their cables laid all along the city, will be made to pay for operation in the city. The satellite channels are using the electricity posts of the Kerala State Electricity Board for networking.
A special cess on oil companies, which have laid their pipelines through the corporation area, is also in the offing. The budget is also likely to have proposals for seeking advertisement rights on the sodium vapour lampposts erected along the national highways that pass through the corporation area, as the civic body has invested for setting up these lamps.
It is expected that a restriction on sticking bills and erecting hoarding in the city will be introduced in the budget, while demarcating areas for the same. The leasing out of the rights to display hoarding is also expected to bring in some revenue to the civic body.
While the new budget may shelve some of the earlier projects like Oceanarium, as they were found unviable for Kochi, financial assistance may be earmarked for some new areas like conservation of culture and heritage. At the same time, the budget is expected to reiterate the decision of the civic body to go ahead with its schemes for erecting a statue of the Queen of Arabian Sea at Marine Drive, apart from setting up a ropeway.
The corporation has also plans to ensure the development of civic amenities by effectively participating and playing its role in the various projects announced by the tourism ministry.
The new budget is expected to lay emphasis on solid waste management schemes, as it did in the previous years.
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