The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s commissioner has proposed to spend a whopping Rs 18,000 crore on development projects in the upcoming financial year, also an election year. However, records show that the civic body achieves only a fraction of its development targets, with expenditure on projects not having crossed R5,500 crore in the past decade. The mark was crossed only in the past two years due to the large-scale funding of the Coastal Road and of the BEST.

In the last election year, 2016-17, the civic body undertook development worth only Rs 3,850 crore, around 30 per cent, despite a budget estimate of Rs 12,958 crore. This year, municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has proposed Rs 18,751 crore for capital expenditure meant for projects like construction of roads, widening of stormwater drainage, laying of water lines, building hospitals and schools, developing gardens, etc.