As Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu prepares to take oath as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for a record fourth time, ground is being laid for the resumption of works on the capital city of Amaravati after a gap of five years.
The works on the greenfield capital city were launched with much fanfare in October 2015 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone. However, the works were abruptly halted in 2019 by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy after he became Chief Minister by unseating Mr. Naidu.
Now, the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA), which is responsible for developing the Amaravati capital city, is again reviewing the status of the works and has commenced some projects even before the swearing-in ceremony of Mr. Naidu, which is scheduled for June 12.
APCRDA Commissioner Vivek Yadav spoke to The Hindu regarding the ongoing works in the capital city. “Senior officials are reviewing the status of the works in the capital city. We have started clearing the bushes and shrubs at all the important buildings like the Secretariat, High Court, Seed Access Road and under-construction buildings such as residential quarters for Ministers, judges, MLAs and MLCs. Street-lighting in the villages is also being taken up.”
Mr. Yadav informed that the contractors are also willing to resume works. At the same time, he said that the CRDA authorities and State government are keen on revisiting the entire project in order to get a better understanding of the status of the works which were stalled midway.
Once the swearing-in ceremony is completed, there will be a high-level meeting by the Chief Minister, after which the CRDA will get proper directions on how to go about the infrastructure development works, Mr. Yadav said.
Contractors on board
Meanwhile, some major contractors engaged in the CRDA infrastructure works such as Larsen & Toubro, Navayuga and NCC are in coordination with government authorities, with CRDA officials informing that they will hold meetings with all the contractors before resumption of the works.
In fact, the APCRDA is supposed to clear the dues of these contractors for the works done until now. In addition to this, the contractors had also mobilised construction material for their respective projects and the APCRDA should clear the bills for that too, according to developers.
In a recent conversation that this correspondent had with senior employees of L&T, it emerged that they have been waiting for the release of dues amounting to ₹800 crore.
On the other hand, officials of APCRDA and the contractors have observed that there has been a steep escalation in prices as compared to the agreed-upon tender prices of five or six years ago. Hence, negotiation of these prices due to the delay is another task in front of the CRDA now, even before they restart the halted works.
Both Chief Secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad and Mr. Vivek Yadav visited the infrastructure projects in Amaravati to get an idea of the actual position of the stalled works.
Published - June 10, 2024 07:31 pm IST
