Amaravathi to be like a port-based economic hub

The Andhra Pradesh Government proposes to develop Amaravathi like a port–based capital city with waterways, amidst two industrial hubs and serving as an economic hub.

As it sets out to finalise the seed capital master plan along the river Krishna submitted by Singapore, it has invited suggestions from experts and top institutions so that the plan could be fine tuned to suit the local requirements.

While the State Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is keen that the capital gets support from some of the lending agencies and expert firms from Japan and Singapore, it has also received interest from a number of firms from China and Malaysia.

In order to broad-base the engagement, the Chief Minister, has suggested to the Capital Advisory Group, which comprises industry players too, that even local companies could take part in the development process making it a truly participatory mode.

With the State Cabinet deciding to lay the foundation stone for the capital city on October 22 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and possibly Japanese and Singapore premiers, the fine tuned design is proposed to be ready by September 15, according to P Narayana, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development.

The capital advisory group has been directed to thoroughly analyse the master plans of seed capital, capital city and the capital region and come up with suggestions. They were also asked to look into some of the good aspects of development of new capital cities of Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Naya Raipur and Navi Mumbai, so that they could be incorporated during the construction stage itself.

The Government has almost completed the identification of beneficiaries living in the 29 villages where land pooling process was initiated for the development of the capital city. While there are 1,09,000 people living in the area, it has identified 16,602 people for the annuity based financial support as a part of the pooling process. The beneficiaries would get annuity from April 1, 2015.

Meanwhile, the Government is also in the process of identifying people living in assigned land, estimated to be spread over 1800 acres of the 33,000 acres required. If necessary, the Government may amend the relevant acts after Cabinet nod.

The Government is keen that the developed land would be handed over those who parted with the land for the new capital. It is also proposed to ensure that they do not get displaced from their homes. Since the seed capital development area comes within 75 acres, the State Government would ensure that people would not be displaced from their homes.