Vijayawada: With elections just a year away, the AP government seems to be racing against time to showcase Amaravati as a world-class capital city to the public to garner votes.
Except for two of the nine theme cities, most of the work is still at a nascent stage where in some cases tenders have been floated. The government planned nine theme cities, giving thousands of acres for each — justice, sports, knowledge, electronics, media, tourism, education, government and finance.
The anchor projects of the education city have been grounded while work on the anchor project of the health city is yet to be launched though the land has been allotted. Work on the housing quarters of government employees, MLAs, ministers, judicial officers, All India service officers which are part of government city are going on a brisk pace.
The government city that includes the secretariat, Chief Minister’s Office, government offices, the Assembly building is still at the design stage. So is the justice city comprising the high court and integrated court complex.
On the tourism city front, the Capital Regional Development Authority (CRDA) has issued letters of intent and allotted land for the construction of star hotels. Works on other recreation activities creation like setting up the international marina, theme parks, hospitality and MIC (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) centres, riverfront development are still at the request for proposal stage.
For the finance city, the CRDA had recently signed an agreement with a Singapore consortium to develop the startup area which will attract investments from global companies. There has been no much progress on the media and electronic cities.
“To encourage investors and to attract investments initially government wanted to allot land to anchor projects on nomination basis in the proposed theme cities. Remaining land allotments will be done through tenders,” APCRDA economic development wing director Y. Nagi Reddy told Deccan Chronicle.
There have been many inquiries for the tenders and RFPs issued and many have participated in them, he said. Once the tendering process is complete, works will be grounded.
“We have a dedicated team of officials to coordinate with the representatives of various countries. Each official is entrusted with the coordination of certain countries,” Mr Nagi Reddy said.
Singapore team to give boost to start-up area
A Singapore consortium had signed a concession agreement with CRDA to develop the startup area which will be part of the proposed finance city. The consortium along with the Amaravati Development Corporation will develop the startup area of 6.84 sq km or 1,691 acres.
This will be done over 15 years in three phases of each about five years each. A concession agreement was also signed for a period of 20 years.
Only after the sale of 70 per cent of the developed land and attracting investments will the next phase be started.
The sale of developed plots will be done by auction or by negotiation with global companies who can bring in large scale employment. The reserve price of land for Phase-I is '4 crore per acre.
A committee consisting the Amaravati Development Partner and government of Andhra Pradesh will decide for next phases.
