MCD to reintroduce PPP scheme for park maintenance in Delhi

Time of India

9 hours ago

New Delhi: The
Municipal Corporation of Delhi
intends to go back to the public-private partnership model for maintaining parks with a per-acre payment up to Rs 15,000. In the pre-unified era, the erstwhile south, north, and east municipal corporations had adopted this scheme, paying Rs 13,500 in south, Rs 8,000 in north, and Rs 8,500 in east Delhi for park maintenance.
The programme was halted in 2022 when MCD couldn't settle payments under the scheme with the residents' welfare associations.
"The proposed reintroduction of the PPP scheme has been sent for financial observations and will be placed in the standing committee soon," said an MCD official on Tuesday. The civic body currently has outstanding dues of Rs 16 crore on this account and instructions have been given to process the payment after receiving updated bills from RWAs.
The three zones of Rohini, Keshavpuram and Narela account for around Rs 10 crore of the dues since 2019.
"Due to lack of budgeting in the previous years, the pending payments could not be processed. However, the matter is under active consideration and pending dues will be cleared, subject to availability of funds," said the official.
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The municipal bodies had enlisted 222 RWAs in adopting 1,315 parks under the programme.
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The initiative, launched more than a decade ago, was aimed at encouraging local participation in maintaining neighbourhood parks while addressing recurring problems related to the green spaces arising from MCD's irregular staffing, said officials.
"Due to bills remaining unpaid for 2-3 years, RWAs were in a quandary, unsure whether to terminate their contract or continue under the present circumstances. Some RWAs were lucky to have bills till Dec 2023 settled, though it took them dogged pursuance," disclosed an RWA member from East of Kailash.
RWAs claimed that MCD lacked even the resources and personnel to remove green waste from parks or the equipment for basic pruning and mowing. Some RWAs are still paying from their own funds to maintain the parks, fearing that a break in maintenance will cause their deterioration.
MCD officials revealed there is a plan under way to transfer parks bigger than three acres to private concessionaires for upkeep. "In Karol Bagh zone, we launched a pilot project and called applications from expert agencies to maintain 41 parks.
The pilot phase involves allocating 94 acres of land to an agency responsible for engaging staff and planting trees at an estimated cost of Rs 3.6 crore," said an official.
Similar steps will be taken in the other 11 zones where the selected agency will be responsible for maintaining greenery, cleaning and sweeping the lawns regularly and transporting the green waste to the waste processing centres. Plants will be provided by MCD from its nurseries.