Amaravati development works will be completed in 30 months: Minister P Narayana

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana on Sunday said here that the Amaravati capital city development works will be completed in two-and-a-half years' time. Narayana said the state capital of Amaravati will be developed as one of the top five capital cities in the world and that the plans devised in the past will be implemented to meet this target. “In the coming two-and-a-half years' time, we will complete the development works of state capital Amaravati,” Narayana said, speaking to reporters after assuming office at the state secretariat.

According to the minister, all development work initiated in the capital has involved the Singapore government, especially in designing the city in such a way that all districts will benefit financially. He said that Singapore, China, Japan, Russia, Malaysia and other countries were visited to craft the best designs for Amaravati. Narayana said tenders worth Rs 48,000 crore were called in the past to ensure that all amenities are made available in the majority of the area in the capital, and that bills of Rs 9,000 crore were already paid. He said these works included construction of the residential quarters of bureaucrats, legislators and others, which were completed up to 90 per cent. After the land pooling notification was issued on January 1, 2015 for Amaravati as capital city, farmers handed over 34,000 acres of land to the government by February 28, 2015, Narayana claimed.

However, the capital city development project was neglected by the previous YSRCP government, he said. The minister said he will review the plans with officials from today, and in the next 15 days some clarity would emerge on how to prioritise the capital city works. He said that the capital development master plan devised in the past would be implemented, especially in three phases. The first phase of city building development works would cost Rs 48,000 crore, he said, and added that the second phase would focus on constructing metro rail infrastructure. Further, Narayana said ‘Anna Canteens', which provide cooked meals at subsidised prices will be revived in three weeks' time. ‘Anna Canteens' offer breakfast, lunch and dinner at Rs 5 each, totalling Rs 15 per day.

He held a review meeting with municipal officials on reviving these canteens, which were introduced during the erstwhile TDP government between 2014 and 2019, but former CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had discontinued them. Back then, the state government had entrusted the responsibility to ISKCON to provide the three meals a day at Rs 73, bearing the subsidy cost of Rs 58 after people bought them at Rs 15 per day. Narayana said that up to 2.25 lakh people used to relish ‘Anna Canteen' food on a daily basis while more than 4.6 crore meals were served during the earlier TDP government.