Amaravati rises again today, said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday after formally re-launching the capital city works and setting a three-year deadline to complete them.
Addressing a press conference, the CM said the cost of rebuilding Amaravati capital city rose by Rs 7,000 crore in the last five years, and reached Rs 52,000 crore.
The tenders for 55 capital city works, which were invited at Rs 42,519 crore between 2014 and 2019 got inflated by Rs 7,000 crore due to the alleged negligence of the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government, he said.
"Because all those (capital) works got stalled, we are making new estimates. Because of their (YSRCP government's) deeds, the financial burden has increased by Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 52,000 crore. We will start the works with Rs 52,000 crore," the CM said.
Naidu noted that the banks have already come forward to finance the project and thanked the Central government on behalf of all the five crore Andhra Pradesh people.
According to Naidu, the World Bank and other financial institutions have come forward to lend Rs 15,000 crore as a consortium and the Centre has made these funds available to the southern state.
The southern state is working with the multilateral financial institutions and funding is expected from them at the earliest.
The CM further said that the CRDA office could start functioning in four months and all regions of the state would be developed along with Amaravati.
Noting that Amaravati would be a 'self-financing' city, Naidu said some more land would be left in the 54,000-acre greenfield capital city after developing it.
“Now there is an excellent blueprint. Now we have to execute it by improving (it) further. It is a model capital…Now everything is in place, I asked my people to start the work,” he told reporters.
Calling Amaravati a 'capital of goddesses', the CM said the city will feature wide roads, underground power lines and underground water pipelines through ducts.
The TDP chief announced that the centrally located Amaravati will emerge as a green energy hub equipped with electric vehicle charging stations, and other environmental friendly features.
Highlighting that work in the greenfield capital is going apace, Naidu reminded officials that they only have three years' time to bring out a proper tangible structure to Amaravati.
"Wherever new cities are coming up, that too greenfield cities, we will collaborate with them. They will know best practices from us, we will know best practices from them. Ultimately, we will make one of the best (capital cities)," he said.
Further, Naidu stressed that all the latest advancements in the realms of technology and infrastructure will be incorporated in Amaravati, aiming to house the top 10 varsities, schools, hotels and hospitals.
Naidu took up the CRDA project office works in a seven-storey building at a cost of Rs 160 crore during his tenure between 2014-19.
However, between 2019 and 2024, former CM Jagan Mohan Reddy mooted the idea of three capital cities and kept the development of Amaravati in the backburner. After the return of Naidu as the CM of the bifurcated state post 2024 polls, Amaravati capital project received a shot in the arm. On October 16, the decision to restart the works was taken during a CRDA authority meeting, said an official statement on Saturday.
(With agency inputs)
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