The influence of Singapore is clearly evident in the first representational images of the seed capital of Amaravati, which were released by the government on Saturday. The images were released 48 hours ahead of a visit by the Singapore team led by its minister S. Iswaran to the state to submit the Seed Capital plan.
These artiste’s representations of the future Amaravati show high rises, inland waterway and a well-defined elevated metro corridor. What can be gleaned from these images is that Amaravati is planned to be a administrative and financial hub much in the fashion of Singapore, London’s City and New York’s Manhattan, a city to go to work in but not affordable enough to live in for the salaried classes. The images do show a well laid-out plan for residential areas bordering the river front, albeit a bit away from the core of the seed capital area.
One major highlight of the images is the inclusion of greenery, the hallmark of Singaporean constructions, in the design of the seed capital area. Given its space constraints, Singapore has carefully planned green belts with emphasis on rooftop gardens wherever feasible.
This is one feature that dominates the urban landscape in the Amaravati images with green patches dotting the rooftops as well as high rises. The images also show an extensive area earmarked for agriculture-related activities as is evident from the green patch surrounding the vicinity of the seed capital region.
Another significant feature of the images is a mass transit system within the city with a metro rail and an inland waterway. The seed capital area had been designed to accommodate an elevated metro rail unlike the underground metro of the Island Nation.
The images show how the planners had taken advantage of the riverfront and designed an inland waterway within the seed capital area that could act as an avenue for mass transportation. There is of course the physical connectivity element displayed in the form of a six-lane highway with service roads and a parallel rail link to connect different destinations.
It remains to be seen whether the government gives similar emphasis on the utilisation of the mass transit system on the lines of Singapore where hefty amounts are charged as fee for giving permission for people to drive their own cars. Equally stringent are the provisions related to road safety as licences are liable to be cancelled if the rating given to owners drops below a certain level.
