Najafi: Tehran Municipality Has 30 Trillion Tomans in Debt

The Mayor of Tehran states that the municipality is in debt by more than 1.7 times the budget of 2017, amounting to approximately 30 trillion tomans. According to Mehr News Agency on Tuesday (September 3), Mohammad Ali Najafi made this announcement during a seasonal meeting with managers and deputies of Tehran Municipality. Najafi mentioned that Tehran Municipality owes 'over 16 trillion tomans to banks (mainly Bank Shahr), 9 trillion tomans to contractors, and 5 trillion tomans for ongoing projects.' He added that in other words, Tehran Municipality has '30 trillion tomans in confirmed debt; that is about 1.7 times its total budget for the current year.' In April of this year, Alireza Dabir, the former head of the Budget and Planning Commission of the Tehran City Council, stated that Tehran Municipality owed 20 trillion and 495 billion tomans to banks and contractors. According to Mehr News Agency, the Mayor of Tehran continued his remarks by identifying 'financial resources of the municipality and achieving sustainable resources' as the primary management challenge for the city, stating that the municipality faces issues in both 'revenue' and 'expenses.' He noted that the budget of Tehran Municipality was '8 trillion and 500 billion tomans' in 2011, but this figure reached '17 trillion and 900 billion tomans' in 2017. Despite the budget of Tehran Municipality doubling over six years, Najafi added that considering 'fixed prices and annual inflation,' the budget for 2017 'has the purchasing power equivalent to 6 trillion and 500 billion tomans, indicating a 20% decrease in the purchasing power of the 2017 budget compared to 2011.' He further stated that 'according to the five-year plan of the municipality, we should have had a budget of 22 trillion and 800 billion tomans this year... This means we are witnessing over 5 trillion tomans less and a 22% budget reduction compared to the plans for this year.' Najafi mentioned that Tehran Municipality needs '22 trillion and 500 billion tomans' in credit to complete its ongoing projects. He predicted challenges for the municipality due to what he termed 'the onslaught of costs' on this entity, adding that 39% of the total budget is spent on 'inevitable personnel and ongoing costs.' He described the increasing trend of ongoing costs as 'worrisome' and stated that instead of reducing human resources, the municipality seeks to utilize 'human resources effectively and increase productivity.' On August 9, Mohammad Ali Najafi had also mentioned that among his plans for managing Tehran was 'revising' the municipality's human resources and 'outsourcing' some of its activities. He told members of the Tehran City Council that 'currently there are 1,500 managers in various fields including organizations, companies, regions, and deputy offices in Tehran Municipality, which is a very large number, and we can certainly reduce them and make the municipality more agile.' In this context, 'the appointment of two women as mayors of regions 7 and 10 of Tehran' has been noted, while Najafi has yet to assign any women to positions of responsibility in Tehran Municipality.