Amaravati – Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo Chandrababu Naidu’s dream capital of Andhra Pradesh – has got a new lease of life with his return to power in the state after five years, and it comes at a cost higher than previously estimated.
According to industry estimates, about Rs 40,000 crore will now be required to build infrastructure and various government buildings in the city on the Krishna riverbank, nearly double the Rs 21,000-crore expenditure estimated by the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) during Naidu’s previous stint as the chief minister.
Amaravati, once touted as the “city of the future”, virtually fell victim to neglect after Jagan Mohan Reddy of the YSR Congress Party came to power in Andhra Pradesh after defeating Naidu’s TDP in 2019 and abandoned the capital plan.
During Naidu’s earlier stint, Rs 10,500 crore was already spent on the development of Amaravati. Another Rs 10,000-12,000 crore was required for buildings, real estate experts from the state said. While farmers pooled in 33,000 acres for the project, the government has about 4,000 acres.
According to the earlier plan, the city is spread over 217 square kilometres with six different clusters such as civic and entertainment. The civic cluster itself was spread over 1,600 acres. The city was to have more than a dozen urban plazas, all powered by renewable energy.
The “sustainable city” inspired by Singapore was planned to be connected with e-buses, water taxis, metros and bicycles.
Renowned architect Hafeez Contractor, who was involved in the city’s master planning and designing the high court and assembly buildings along with Foster + Partners, said if New Delhi was built by the British for the next 100 years, Amaravati will be the “city of the future”.
It was planned to be a completely new city with wide roads, flyovers, underpasses, an international airport and a metro train network, said Contractor who is known for designing many iconic buildings in Mumbai such as The Imperial towers and DY Patil Stadium.
“Since the eastern part of India does not have any major city, the whole region will develop because of this new city,” he said, after Naidu’s victory in the Assembly elections.
Contractor says people from the east used to migrate to cities such as Bengaluru and Pune. Amaravati will be a new IT hub and generate huge employment. Amaravati has good water sources unlike Bengaluru and Hyderabad which have perennial water problem, he added.
Hari Babu Gaddipati, chairman and managing director of the Hyderabad-based Lahari Infrastructure and national president of the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), said the new government in Andhra Pradesh would build new assembly and secretariat buildings.
Though Amaravati was included in the Smart Cities Mission earlier, it did not get much attention due to the three capital city plan of Jagan Mohan Reddy. With Naidu coming back to power, Gaddipati said, the work on making Amaravati a smart city will gain momentum. State officials are reported to have reviewed the smart city works in Amaravati since Naidu’s win. He will be sworn in as the chief minister this week.
According to Gaddipati, the new city will be self-sustaining. The government will get about 12,000 acres of land to sell and prices have touched Rs 30,000 per square yard. Hence, the government will get Rs 10 crore per acre.
“Land prices can also go up to Rs 25 crore from Rs 10 crore now,” he said, comparing Amaravati to Cyberabad, the IT hub built by Naidu earlier. When Cyberabad was built, land prices were Rs 5 lakh per acre and it is Rs 100 crore per acre in the financial district now, he said.