Naidu Govt Likely To Launch Amaravati Capital 2.0 Soon

Amaravati: The TDP-led NDA coalition in Andhra Pradesh has decided to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone for Amaravati 2.0.

A decade earlier, Modi had taken part as the chief guest at the bhumi puja for the new capital in 2015 when then Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had acquired nearly 35,000 acres from the farmers under the Land Pooling Scheme. "As not a brick was laid during the five years rule of YSRCP during 2019-2024, we have decided to invite the Prime Minister to relaunch the construction of Amaravati so as to transform it into a futuristic city and one of the best capitals totally meeting its power requirement from renewable energy. There are plans to develop it into a drone, AI and education hub.

Naidu said in the next 45 days, the Prime Minister will be invited to lay the foundation stone for building construction, road and other infrastructure works worth Rs.1 lakh crore. Road development works are being taken up at a cost of Rs.40,000 crore. Earlier speaking at a meeting in Visakhapatnam during the visit of the Prime Minister in connection with the foundation laying for Rs1.40-lakh crore Green Hydrogen Hub at Pudimadaka near here by NTPC Green Energy Ltd, the Chief Minister had said that Modi has proved to be the best-ever PM and one of the towering global leaders.

Meanwhile, the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) meeting chaired by Naidu has accorded clearance to 59 tenders for taking up developmental works worth Rs37,702.15 crore in Amaravati. The work will be launched after Cabinet approval on March 17. Minister for Municipal Administration & Urban Development P Narayana told the media after the CRDA meeting that said that next month over 20,000 workers will take part in the developmental works.

CRDA cleared various developmental works to be taken up in Amaravati. Tenders have already been called for 73 different works worth Rs.48,012 crore as the Cabinet has already cleared these works. Of these tenders, 59 were cleared by the CRDA on Tuesday for works with an estimated cost of Rs37,702.15 crore,. The Minister said that the Letter of Intent will be issued immediately for these works. Of these 59 works, the worth of 22 works of the CRDA limits alone is Rs.22,607.11 crore while the 37 other works of the Amaravati Development Corporation (ADC) are worth Rs15,095.04 crore, he informed. Lands were allotted to various organisations between 2014 and 2019 and the CRDA meeting on Tuesday cleared the land allocation to 31 organisations. Also, the date has been extended to change the location of the land allocated to 11 other units while the CRDA accepted the proposal to change the location of land for two units, Narayana stated.

Maintaining that the development of the capital city of Amaravati is expected to cost an estimated Rs.64,000 crore, the Minister clarified that the taxes collected from the people will not be spent for this purpose. Of the total extent of land acquired from the farmers, the CRDA has an excess of 6,203 acres and of this, 1900 acres will be allocated to various organisations, Narayana disclosed. The amount generated either by mortgaging or selling this surplus land the capital city will be constructed, he stated. Already Rs. 15,000 crore loan has been raised from the World Bank, the Minister said and observed that another Rs 11,000 crore will be raised as loan from HUDCO in addition to borrowing Rs.5,000 crore from various other banks. All this will fetch Rs 31,000 crore to fund the capital city

development.