Amaravati plan scripts a number of firsts

The Greenfield riverfront capital city of Amaravati, coming up on the banks of river Krishna, is set to have a number of firsts in the country, including the first under-river link to the capital city, if the proposals get executed as planned.

Designed by factoring all aspects of Vaastu, the city, to be developed on smart city concepts, will have nine smaller cities/districts dotting the core capital area – the Government City (where the seat of administration will be located), Justice City, Finance City, Education and Knowledge City, Health City, Sports City, Electronic City, Tourism City, and the Media City. Each of these cities/districts will come up on a 500 to 700 acre site, with couple of marquee buildings for other infrastructure to rally around.

In the Master Plan made public by the AP Capital Region Development Authority after approval of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the broad contours of the city encompassing 217 sq km have been outlined, inviting suggestions from the people.

Providing his personal touch to the planning right from the concept stage, Naidu, like in the past with the IT hub of Hyderabad, has ensured some of his ideas get implemented in the overall plan.

Apart from the under link river, he has been championing the concept of Green and Blue with dense green cover and water bodies creatively integrated into the capital.

A number of constructions will not only come up on the river front, but also a large water body (Kondaveeti Vaagu) in Guntur, to host water perennially.

There is accent on developing tourism projects in these water bodies, while also seeking to connect the city with ferries, cutting short travel time.

While all the planning goes on, the thousands of farmers – who parted with about 30,000 acres of land under the land-pooling system, a voluntary offer of land for the development of capital in lieu of annuity payments and developed land – are anxiously awaiting the land promised by the State government. The master plan gives some idea as to where they might eventually get their land parcel. However, it may or may not be exactly where they want it to be, as the process of allotment would be based on a lottery system to be followed by the government, according to a State Minister.

Y Harishchandra Prasad, former chairman of CII-AP, told BusinessLine , “Unlike plans in the past, this one provides clear contours of the overall city, giving clarity to locals and all stakeholders. There is accent on not only transforming the city area but the region to be a strong services sector hub – be it IT, finance, tourism among others.”

The State government seeks to connect the capital city to one of the nodes of the Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor, providing connectivity and access to the other infrastructure development initiatives.

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