Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s vision to transform Amaravati into a world-class city is widely appreciated, but the big question is whether the designs are going to be finalised any time soon.
Foster+Partners (F+P) were to submit the final designs in April 2017, but the exercise has been hanging fire since then. Officially, it is going to take another 40 days for the designs to acquire the final shape.
At the end of the Chief Minister’s latest deliberations with F+P and its partner Architect Hafeez Contractor, nothing concrete has emerged, as he still wanted some changes to be incorporated in the designs worked out by the London-based architecture firm.
It was in March 2017 that the master architects F+P submitted the concept designs of the iconic buildings in Amaravati and its finalisation has since been in the works, as the Chief Minister is still not fully satisfied with what the world famous architects have come up with because of the surfeit of ideas that came from different quarters.
The F+P team had visualised the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Complex as a diamond-shaped structure (inspired by the priceless Kohinoor diamond which was mined in Kollur in the region) and the High Court as a Buddhist monument.
Mr. Naidu suggested certain changes to those designs and of other government buildings and went on to rope in film directors S.S. Rajamouli and Boyapati Srinu to get value added by them in consultation with Team F+P.
Vijayawada , Andhra Pradesh : 22/10/2015: Prime Minister Narendra Modi being explained by Chief Minister N.Chndrababu Naidu after laying the foundation for Amaravati the new capital of Andhra Pradesh on October 22, 2015.Telengana Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao (left) and other dignitaries are also seen. Photo: K.R. Deepak -
According to official sources, three of the many proposals for Assembly that emerged from the laborious exercise so far have been liked by the people, while the Chief Minister is still keen on giving the designs finishing touches to the overall plan not only from the aesthetic point of view but also to build the city in such a manner that it is in harmony with nature.
This is where the process is stuck at the moment and it is going to take over a month as stated on Friday by the Chief Minister, who asked the F+P to close in on a particular plan that has all the features of a great city that is modern but has its cultural moorings intact.
In addition to the work done by the F+P, a committee constituted by the A.P. Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) headed by Government adviser (communications) Parakala Prabhakar had visited the National Museum in New Delhi, the Government Museum in Chennai and Sri Venkateswara Museum in Tirumala and other repositories of history, where they studied the rich culture and heritage that the temple town of Amaravathi, the abode of Sri Amaralingeswara Swamy had reflected through the ages.
They made their own recommendations from the cultural perspective on how to build Amaravati into a modern capital city that is reminiscent of the ancient structures that stood there for many centuries.
This, added to the inputs taken from the integrated design patterns that gave Washington DC, Putrajaya, Astana, London, Brasilia and New Delhi their own distinct identities.
A high-level delegation from A.P. visited those cities and also Naya Raipur, Gandhinagar and Chandigarh among others considered the best in India.
The Chief Minister himself went around some of those cities and came back with suggestions on how Amaravati should look like when compared with other modern capital cities.
Initially, the Singapore Government-owned consultancy company Surbana – Jurong had drawn master plans for the capital region, the capital city and the seed (core) capital, to which China’s Guizhou International Investment Corporation (GIIC) gave its inputs. The designs have since been improvised during multiple rounds of discussions the two sides – A.P. Government and F+P team had.
The plans submitted earlier were almost finalized a couple of days ago in London but an official announcement in this regard is yet to be made as the Government has apparently left some room for itself to make the desired alterations.
