Amravati, a world-class city in making: Andhra govt

Amaravati, the capital of the truncated Andhra Pradesh, is planned to be developed as a “futuristic” world-class city with expertise from Japan and Singapore, and the cost of building it could be in excess of $2 billion, say officials.

The idea is to promote the project on public-private-partnership model. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the new capital at Uddandarayunipalem village in Guntur district.

The Singapore government said it is willing to provide training to Andhra Pradesh government officials in capacity building and urban development aspects to develop Amaravati as the most liveable city. “The Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) will also help AP develop its institutional capacity in urban governance and related areas through training programmes for AP officials responsible for the development of the capital city,” said an official of Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore.

He added: “International Enterprise (IE) Singapore is the government agency coordinating efforts across Singapore’s public and private sectors for the master plan.” IE Singapore had earlier signed an MoU  with the Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh to jointly prepare master plan for the new capital.

The MoU covered the master planning of Amaravati and capacity development for AP officials. The IE has submitted three master plans – the Capital Region Plan, Capital City Master Plan and Seed Development Master Plan.

Japan and Andhra Pradesh also signed an MoU to promote investments by Japanese companies in the state. “Japan has come forward to work with us in diverse sectors such as urban development, port development, agriculture technology and super critical power,” Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said. 

The construction of new capital involves outlay of more than $2 billion as per the master plan, a senior state government official said. Meanwhile, the cash-strapped Andhra Pradesh government, saddled with a deficit of Rs 16,000 crore post-bifurcation, is in the process of appointing master developer for Amaravati in through `Swiss Challenge’ method.