Noida authority to rope in a new consultant to manage finances

NOIDA: The Noida authority has initiated a process to hire a new consultant to address issues being faced in the finance department and to increase revenues.

“We have started the process to rope in a consultant to assist in the matters related to the finance department because the term of the earlier consultant — Deloitte —has ended. The expert agency will be finalised following due procedures. The consultant will help in handling matters of the finance department,” said Ritu Maheshwari, chief executive officer, Noida authority.

The authority will float a tender and hire the agency in the next couple of months, said officials. The authority takes the assistance of a consultant in a bid to increase its revenues, officials added.

Earlier in January 2018, the Noida authority had hired Ernst & Young to generate more revenues.

Ernst & Young had undertaken a survey and submitted its report on March 21, 2018, detailing ways to increase earnings so that the authority can become financially self-reliant instead of depending upon aides or loans for maintenance of civic infrastructure or taking up new projects. Ernst & Young had also met with authority officials and gathered details about various departments related to their survey.

The authority is keen to increase its revenues by collecting taxes on time. The consultant will be assisting the Noida authority to collect taxes, help in recovering dues from defaulters and advise it on how to generate better revenues from defaulting developers, said officials.

The Noida authority needs around ₹1,500 crore annually to meet its expenditures that include paying salaries of staff and providing civic services such as water supply, cleanliness, road maintenance and maintenance of parks. It spends around ₹1,500 crore on services excluding infrastructure projects such as construction of roads, underpasses, etc.

The authority generates ₹2,300 crore revenue annually from all its departments. But most of the revenue comes from selling plots. Officials said the authority will be left with no land in the near future and needs to find ways to generate funds to meet its expenses.