Botsa clears clouds over Amaravati

Amaravati: The clouds hovering over the future of the capital city of Amaravati seem to be slowly getting cleared. Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botsa Satyanarayana made it clear on Tuesday that the government was in the process of preparing fresh plans for the development of capital city keeping in view the various factors including revenue resources.

Talking to The Hans India, Botsa made it clear that it is not possible to implement the plans that were approved by the previous government as they were unrealistic and would put a huge burden on the state exchequer.

He said the government is awaiting the Expert Committee report, which would be tabled within a couple of weeks. Replying to a question, the minister said that once the expert committee submits its report and is accepted by the government, it would decide on exact plan of action.

It would then approach the Centre for financial help. The previous government had prepared plans to develop the capital city at an estimated cost of Rs 1.1 lakh crore, but the cost of the project would escalate to Rs 3 to 4 lakh crore by the time of completion, which the state cannot afford, he added.

The minister said that unlike the previous government, it does not believe that development means construction of capital alone. The decision to have the capital at Amravati has helped in artificial increase in land value and some growth in the real estate sector.

The development was confined only in and around the CRDA. Then Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had failed in taking measures so that the land value elsewhere too could have gone up, he said. The minister said the present government would ensure uniform development of all the 13 districts.

"We have been taking initiatives to develop the areas by taking local resources as an advantage," he added. Reacting on what would be the fate of farmers who gave lands to the capital city under the land pooling scheme with high expectations, he said the government was committed to agreements entered into by the previous government under the scheme.

"Already, we have given annuity to the farmers. The earlier TDP government returned the plots to about 40,000 farmers. Still, 25,000 plots need to be registered. This government is willing to register the returnable lands to the farmers.

At the same time, the state government has to spend at least Rs 16,650 crore on these lands for development of social infrastructure," he said. In addition, it will have to spend another Rs 15,481 crore on the connecting road network to these developed lands, he said.

Asked about the 'Happy Nest' project where some NRIs had asked for the refund of money, he said, only a couple of them had sought return. But the government told them that these apartments would be constructed but under reverse tendering process.

Not just that, once the inquiry into allegations of corruption is over, it would start the construction works of residential quarters of High Court judges and other pending works. He said the government was committed to overall development and there was no question of going back on it.