Cuttack, Feb. 19: The civic body has decided to spend Rs 142 crore for better sanitation, public health, water supply, drainage and electrification in the city during the next fiscal.

An official source said that the draft on the plan would be a part of the corporation's budget estimate, which would be tabled before the municipal council next week.

"Once the budget proposal is passed by the council, it will be submitted to the government for approval by the end of February or the first week of March," municipal commissioner Gyana Das said.

The civic body proposes to spend around Rs 43 crore on health and sanitation, which includes solid waste management and mosquito control.

The standing committee of the municipal corporation for public health, water supply, drainage and electrification has submitted the proposal for approval to the council.

"Expenditure on outsourcing garbage collection and its disposal has been estimated at Rs 36 crore," said the chairman of the committee, Ranjan Kumar Biswal.

According to the proposal by the standing committee, the expenditure on electrification in the city during the next fiscal has been estimated at Rs 38 crore.

"We plan to replace the streetlights with LEDs in phases across the city," Biswal added.

In the first phase, streetlights in the main roads will be changed and in the second phase, streetlights in sub-roads and other streets will be replaced by LEDs.

The committee's draft proposal includes an estimated expenditure of Rs 44 crore on vehicles and other machineries used by the civic body in solid waste collection and disposal and silt removal from drains.

The civic body had hired Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL) from Hyderabad for collection and disposal of waste. The five-year contract with REEL had expired in April last year, but it is continuing under an interim arrangement of a monthly contract.

The corporation had cleared the bids by two private companies - one from Mumbai and another from Bangalore -in September last year for the five-year contract.

But the civic administration has not been able to proceed further because of an interim restriction imposed by the high court on a petition challenging the tender process. The officials hope to clear the legal hurdle by the end of this month.