A view of the confluence of Musi and Esi rivers near Bapu Ghat at Langar Houz where the state government proposed the Gandhi Sarovar project. | Photo credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR
Budget allocations for various projects in the city for 2026-27 have remained more or less the same as the current year despite the recent extension of its boundaries to the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and the renaming of the tri-corporation area as the Core Urban Region.
In fact, at several places, the name Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has been replaced by ‘CURE’ in the 2025-26 budget without any major change in allocations.
The total allocation for the city defined as CURE is close to ₹ 9,740 crore, with the major portion allocated to the H-CITI (Hyderabad City Innovative and Transformative Infrastructure) project and the Musi Riverfront Development Project.
For the H-CITI and Musi projects, the allocations remain the same as the current year at ₹2,654 crore and ₹1,500 crore respectively.
A substantial sum of ₹200 crore has been allocated under the leadership of Rajiv Yuva Vikasam to retrofit autorickshaws in the CURE region with electrical installation. The CURE area also received financial assistance of ₹ 315 crore under the Scheduled Castes Special Development Fund.
Professional tax compensation of ₹ 10 crore and motor vehicle tax of ₹ 10 crore for the CURE area remain the same as for GHMC in the current year, while establishment expenditure of ₹ 15 crore saw a slight increase of ₹ 3 crore compared to the current year.
The budget for the Hyderabad Disaster Response & Asset Protection Agency has been reduced to a total of ₹101.49 crore from the previous year’s allocation of over ₹120 crore. While expenditure on establishments increased drastically from ₹21.86 crore to ₹61.49 crore, the government halved the expenditure on programs from the allocated ₹100 crore in the current year to ₹50 crore for 2026–27, while the revised budget estimates were also relaxed to ₹6 crore for the current year.
Total borrowings for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board stood at ₹3,005 crore for various development works and the Krishna drinking water project, while repayment of 20 kiloliters of drinking water supply to the city remained the same as the current year at ₹300 crore. Loans to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to start development work have been fixed at ₹500 crore.
Hyderabad Metrao Rail Limited was allocated a total of ₹1,100 crore, of which ₹500 crore was borrowings and ₹600 crore as grants to support the second phase of Metro Rail connectivity. The multimodal transport system has been given a modest allocation of ₹5 crore as against ₹50 crore in the current year and ₹30 crore revised estimates.
The Quli Qutb Shah Urban Development Authority is another agency that has seen a drastic cut in funding, from an original allocation of ₹63.38 crore to ₹25 crore. The allocation for the current year has now been revised to ₹38 crore.
Published – 20 March 2026 20:23 IST
