Source : The Business Line Date : 09.03.2009
GIS system helps Chennai Corpn earn Rs 70 cr more
| Correct assessment of commercial property tax. |
Mr Rajesh Lakhoni
M Ramesh
S Bridget Leena
Chennai, March 8 Backed by technology, the Corporation of Chennai has earned Rs 70 crore more this financial year only through correct assessment of commercial property tax.
A GIS-based application has helped the Corporation of Chennai ensure that commercial establishments in its jurisdiction state the extent of their property correctly for the purpose of paying property tax.
“It helped us control under-assessment,” says Mr Rajesh Lakhoni, Corporation’s Commissioner. In 2007-08, it collected Rs 230 crore from property tax levies; in the current year, it expects to secure at least Rs 300 crore.
He said that the corporation has got an agency to map 40 sq km of Chennai city. It expects to get the other 140 sq km done by June, after which it would have a high-resolution digital map of the city, “upon which we plan to run several exiting applications.”
These maps are made by film-shoots from low flying aircraft. Hence they are much better in resolution than, say, Google Earth.
Once the project is over, many initiatives are possible, Mr Lakhoni said. For example, prepaid car services can calculate the exact distance between two locations and charge the customer accordingly.
The corporation has also seen windfall revenues from another stream: advertisements from the new bus shelters. The corporation has been pulling down existing shelters and building new, flashy ones, with considerable space for advertisements. In the current year, the corporation is sure of getting Rs 30 crore from advertisers.
Unfortunately, the corporation could not similarly replicate this model on its proposed foot-over-bridge plan. Earlier, the plan was to put up a series of foot-over-bridges across main roads with escalators, so that pedestrians could cross over easily.
Advertisements Act
A view of the Ripon Building which houses the Corporation of Chennai
This is because under the Advertisements Act, hoardings cannot be put up, except on utilities, public conveniences and bus shelters. It is not quite clear why it is alright for a bus shelter to carry a hoarding and a similar activity can’t be done on a foot-over-bridge.
Each foot-over-bridge with escalator costs Rs 2.5 crore. If there had been scope for advertisements, they could have paid for themselves. The corporation is planning to put up a few “with our own money”, but for now, Chennai pedestrians will have to cut the traffic to cross over.
Mr Lakhoni pointed out that the corporation’s budget had doubled in the last two years, to around Rs 1,600 crore for 2008-09. It got Rs 600 crore from taxes and another Rs 400 crore from the State Government as its share of tax collections. Another Rs 150 crore came from measures such as the charges on bus shelter advertisements. The rest came from the Union Government under the ‘Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission’ scheme.
Mr Lakhoni expects the budget for 2009-10 to be around the same level as the current year.