Ludhiana: Talk about the MC issuing bonds for public investment has resumed after eight years but does seem to be going anywhere just yet. The Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC) instructed the civic body to start work on the MC bonds scheme, but civic officials said they could not do it without relevant expertise.They said that before issuing bonds, they needed to get a credit rating of the MC, for which they needed an expert officer with the relevant technical skills to hire an agency. The office of the MC additional commissioner has requested PMIDC to hire a credit rating agency at its level.
Back in 2017, the MC, which was asked to go ahead with the exercise to issue bonds, signed an agreement with a private company. The company was supposed to conduct a survey of MC properties and the financial status of the department, based on which value of bonds was decided, and officials were able to issue the bonds to encourage public investment.During a credit rating conducted in 2017-18, the MC was rated BBB+ on various parameters, including assets, liabilities, and recovery sources. The credit rating exercise was undertaken on the directions of the central govt.Following the example of Pune MC, civic officials planned to issue bonds for public investment. The move was aimed at generating revenue for the civic body, which was facing scarcity of funds. Even now, the civic body is unable to pay salaries to staff on time, which prompted it to focus on recovery of pending dues. An official claimed that Pune MC raised Rs 200 crore in June through the first instalment of the five-year bond programme to raise Rs 2,264 crore and said this was an example they could emulate. MSID:: 128259251 413 |
