The moribund project to build “Amaravati”, a brand new capital for the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, is showing rare signs of life with a $1.3bn loan agreed last month, and a project re-launch planned this month by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The 217-sq-km greenfield project with a master plan by UK-based Foster + Partners was launched in 2014, but the most recent status update for the scheme published by the state’s Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) dates to February 2019.
At that time, High Court judges and other civil servants were working in temporary buildings pending the construction of a courthouse and a state legislature. A chief justice complained of there being nowhere to park or even get a cup of tea.
But in March, India’s Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) agreed to lend the CRDA $1.3bn (Rs 11,000 crore) for the city, Economic Times reports. Details of what the money would be spent on were not given.
And in April, Narendra Modi will visit to re-launch projects there worth $11.7bn (Rs 1 lakh crore), reports the PTI news agency.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary K Vijayanand said Modi would “restart the construction of Capital Amaravati”.
CRDA commissioner K Kanna Babu said funds had been raised for the government complex, trunk roads, and other infrastructure, adding that tenders had already been invited.
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