In a significant development, the Andhra Pradesh government has resumed the construction works of the Greenfield Amaravati Capital project on Saturday.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu officially restarted the work of the ₹160 crore Headquarters of the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) in Uddamdarayapalem in Tullur mandal of the capital region, which was halted in 2019 by the YSR Congress Party Government led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Naidu expressed, “With this resumption of work, we began to rewrite the history of the State. I was criticized when I gave 5,000 acres of land to Shamshabad airport. Today, even that 5,000 acres of land has been well-utilized.”
He also mentioned that over 30,000 farmers pooled in nearly 34,200 acres for the capital with trust in the government. Including Government land, a total of 54,000 acres were pooled in for the new capital, which was the first of its kind.
Lamenting the previous government’s decision to halt the construction work and change the capital plan, Naidu said that the World Bank had agreed to provide a loan for Amaravati, and the construction of the new capital would proceed with ‘jet speed.’
Amaravati would be an ideal location for the capital as it is centrally located in the State, Naidu said while emphasizing balanced regional development. Visakhapatnam will be developed as a financial capital, along with setting up a High Court Bench and industries in Kurnool.
“I have requested the Centre for a Bullet Train for the State, which should connect Bangalore, Hyderabad, Amaravati, and Chennai,” he added.
The original estimate of the ₹48,000 crore mega capital project is likely to be revised upwards by about ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 crore due to the escalation of costs in the last five years and the adverse impact of the sudden halt of works in 2019.
The revised bids will be called by the Government by the end of December. While the CRDA Headquarters will be completed in the next four months, the first iconic tower for other administrative offices, Assembly, and High Court is expected to be ready in 2027.
After the NDA government assumed office in July, contracts for clearing the shrub jungle in the capital region were awarded, and the work has already been completed.
