Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu promised the state government will release a 'white paper' on the status of the Amaravati capital city project after taking stock of the stalled projects during his visit on Thursday.
"We will take suggestions from various quarters in the state and all the people should deliberate on this issue. We will release a white paper on Amaravati with all the details," Naidu said.
The leader, accompanied by senior officials, inspected several construction projects, such as the residential quarters for officials, legislators, and judges, as well as the stalled high court, secretariat and other construction sites. He called the Amaravati project the "collective symbol" of Andhra Pradesh's aspirations.
Amaravati isn't just a capital, it's a collective symbol of the aspirations of our people of Andhra Pradesh. The manner in which the YSRCP regime disregarded these aspirations, brutalized our farmers, and destroyed our capital, left us deeply pained. Today, I conducted an… pic.twitter.com/up1BlH67XR
June 20, 2024After serving as the first Chief Minister of the divided Andhra Pradesh from 2014 to 2019, Naidu proposed Amaravati as the capital. His vision faced a setback in 2019 as the Telugu Desam Party lost control of the state and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party secured a significant win.
Reddy poured cold water on the Amaravati capital city plans and propounded a new theory of three capitals, which Naidu has now replaced with the decision to have a single capital.
The National Democratic Alliance's triumph in the recent assembly and parliamentary elections has breathed new life into the Amaravati capital city project, which is also expected to draw financial assistance from the new Union government, as Naidu's TDP is one of the key allies of the alliance.
According to Naidu, had the Amaravati city project gone ahead as planned, the road infrastructure would have come up by now. Up to 80% work on these projects was completed, he said.
The CM said Amaravati has access to approximately 55,000 acres of land from various sources, and appreciated farmers for relinquishing their land for the development of the state capital.
Amaravati was a meticulously planned project, inspired by global cities like Singapore. Spanning 217 square kilometres and divided into nine theme cities and 27 townships, it was designed to be developed in three phases: the seed area or core capital, the capital city, and the capital region. This sustainable city was to be connected by e-buses, water taxis, metros and bicycles, reflecting a commitment to eco-friendly infrastructure.
Naidu had earlier visited the Polavaram Project on the Godavari River to review works and the project status. The project is a multi-purpose irrigation project intended to irrigate over 4.3 lakh hectares of land and generate 960 MW of hydropower, along with the supply of drinking water to nearly 30 lakh people in 611 villages.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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