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Singapore proposal for Amaravati

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It’s perhaps the most audacious urban infrastructure project conceived in independent India: to build an entire state capital, a modern metropolis that would rival the world’s finest cities, from the ground up.

When Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu spelt out his vision for Amaravati in September 2014, based on a master plan prepared by Singapore’s Surbana Jurong Pte Ltd, the sceptics scoffed at it as a utopian dream.

They had their reasons. After all, India is a country where procuring land even to build a highway could take years and become snarled in endless red tape and litigation.

And where, they wondered, would the revenue-deficit state government find the money to build the capital, which would be spread over 217 sq. km with towering structures, glass facades, a central boulevard, wide avenues and footpaths, metro and riverway transport, walkways along a 35 km promenade, and elegant living spaces. A “blue-green” city, signifying water and tree cover, with the finest infrastructure India has ever seen, is what chief minister Naidu promised his people.

Naidu paid no heed to the sceptics. The government duly procured the land on the banks of the Krishna, India’s fourth largest river, between the cities of Vijayawada and Guntur, in one of India’s largest land pooling exercises.

Farmers in the would-be city of Amaravati gave away their lands to the state government in return for the promise of 800-1,000-square yard residential plots and 100-450 square yard commercial plots. For a 10-year period, farmers who parted with land will also be paid an annual compensation that would increase 10% (of the original amount) every year, the government said.

The sceptics were somewhat quietened when Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Amaravati on 22 October 2015, to the chants of Vedic hymns at a ceremony where water from 35 Indian rivers was mixed with soil procured from 13,000 villages and 3,000 wards of Andhra Pradesh, signifying bonding of the entire state with the capital.

Day in, night out

Nine months on, work is underway at a frenetic pace in the village of Velagapudi, where an army of workers has been deployed by two of India’s best-known construction firms, Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) and Shapoorji Pallonji and Co. Ltd.

L&T is building four blocks of the government’s transitional headquarters, while Shapoorji is responsible for building two blocks.

The first of L&T’s blocks is closest to completion. Workers are toiling day and night to finish the project.

Inside the block nearing completion, electrical wiring is still being laid and overhead air-conditioners are being mounted. Elevators are yet to be installed and the building doesn’t have piped water yet.

Outside, the mud paths in the temporary secretariat complex are being turned into asphalted roads. The mud paths acquired infamy in Andhra Pradesh after the chief minister’s convoy got mired during one of his inspection tours of the facility. Left with no choice, Naidu stepped off his bus and toured the area in another vehicle.

These are but minor inconveniences in the building of India’s newest state capital. If chief minister Naidu has his way, the muddy paths will soon give way to 25-60 metre wide, black-topped roads, together with walkways and bicycling tracks.

Political stakes

At stake in the project is Naidu’s credibility, and, many agree, his political future.

Naidu is trying to finish the project by 2017, two years ahead of the next state election, when he will likely be judged on the progress made in the construction of the capital.

Sixteen years ago, as chief minister of a larger Andhra Pradesh state, Naidu was known as the architect of one of India’s top technology hubs: Hyderabad.

In June 2014, the state lost Hyderabad to India’s 29th and newest state Telangana, which was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. Overnight, Andhra Pradesh was left with no capital.

A hastily drafted legislation by the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance government, which lost power in the 2014 general election, gave time till 2024 for Andhra Pradesh to build its capital.

Till that time, the state government could function out of Hyderabad, which would eventually become the exclusive capital of Telangana.

It was in these circumstances that Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was elected to govern Andhra Pradesh by the people who bet on him to replicate what he did in Hyderabad: build a thriving commercial enclave.

Sure enough, after a three-month wait and a lot of speculation, during which the price of land doubled in some areas, a formal announcement was made.

Andhra Pradesh’s new capital would be built from scratch on the farmlands abutting Krishna river, between Vijayawada and Guntur.

Clean slate

Critics questioned the need to build a concrete megapolis in place of multi-crop farmland in one of India’s most fertile and ecologically sensitive areas. And why build a new capital when the government could easily have designated one of the existing cities in Andhra Pradesh, with infrastructure ready, as the capital?

Naidu chose to start afresh because he did not want a city’s existing infrastructure to impede his vision of building a “world-class city” without the deficiencies of existing cities. He wanted to start with a clean slate.

His government is contesting the National Green Tribunal’s stand that the floodplains of the Krishna river and Kondaveeti Vagu will be damaged by construction.

Naidu sidestepped cumbersome provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, which would have made land acquisition on such a large scale almost impossible, by turning to land pooling.

The Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), a body set up to plan, coordinate, execute, finance and promote Amaravati, took control of about 33,000 acres from farmers in 23 villages spread across three wards—Thullur, Mangalagiri and Tadepalli in Guntur district.

And in designing and implementing the project, he turned to Singapore, whose founding father, the late Lee Kuan Yew, is an idol of his. His government also reached out to the governments of Japan and China.

Eastern tilt

In doing so, Naidu tilted east, the fulcrum of the new world order, away from North America, whose companies helped him transform Hyderabad into one of India’s most prominent technology hubs in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Three technical teams toured the world to study the best practices followed by modern cities in Brazil, Europe, China and Asia.

Andhra Pradesh had its first success when it signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2014 with Singapore to build a “world-class people’s capital”.

Under the pact, Singapore drew up three master plans, free of cost, for Amaravati—a capital region concept plan for an area spanning 7,420 sq. km, a capital city master plan (217 sq. km) and a seed capital detailed master plan (16.9 sq. km).

Amaravati is six times bigger than Chennai, the erstwhile British trading outpost that is now one of the biggest cities in southern India.

It will be the fifth planned capital in independent India after Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar and Naya Raipur.

Located at the northern end of the capital city, the seed capital will be the epicentre of power in Andhra Pradesh, accommodating its legislature, secretariat and high court, besides other government offices and residences of its political class and bureaucracy.

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ramana1212

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Entha singapore construct chesina AP lo unde janalani suddenga marchaledu ga 2075 kala maybe after 2 generations koncham devlop avtaremo chudali mana India vaalu.

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