Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has grand plans to develop a new state capital which will be both historic and futuristic. But the big question is whether Amravati can be a second Hyderabad
By Kalyani Shankar
Can Hyderabad and Amravati be the crown jewels of the two Telugu states—Andhra Pradesh and Telangana? They can, if they decide to complement and not compete. After all, they share language, history, rivers and a long boundary. Before the bifurcation on June 2, 2014, Hyderabad as a high-tech capital had attracted huge investments from abroad but now both states are struggling to find their feet.
Building a new capital has its own pains, challenges and benefits. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has begun this challenging task at Amravati on 33,000 acres of land south of Vijayawada. Amravati will be the fifth new capital built since Independence, the other four being Gandhinagar, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh and Naya Raipur.
Naidu is impatient to move out to his own capital due to some irritants between him and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Both states had fought for Hyderabad city, the cash-rich capital of united Andhra Pradesh and, eventually, they had to reconcile with accepting it as a joint capital till 2024. Neither has made peace with the decision and both are now facing problems of adjusting to their new status with unfinished issues involving employees, division of assets, sharing of water and so on.
CHOICE OF CAPITAL
Why did Naidu choose Amravati located 290 km away from Hyderabad? It is because of its huge potential. He wants it to be a rival to Hyderabad as the historic city will combine mythology, history and modernity. Amravati is one of the five sacred places of Lord Shiva that is called “Pancharavams”. History shows that the Telugu kings Shatavahanas ruled with Amravati as their capital and later, Ishkwakas, Kakatiyas and even Muslim kings did the same. Gautama Buddha was believed to have visited this place. His Holiness the Dalai Lama had conducted a Kalachakra festival here a few years ago. It has also been declared by the Union government as one of the 12 heritage cities of the country. So Amravati boasts of more ancient history as compared to Hyderabad, which was built 400 years ago by the Qutub Shahi dynasty on the Musi River.
Located on the banks of Krishna in picturesque surroundings, Amravati can be built as a twin city to Vijayawada which is just across the river, like Hyderabad and Secunderabad. It is also equidistant between coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.
It took more than 16 months for Naidu to start work. The seat of the government is proposed on a grand scale to match the world’s modern cities in aesthetics, infrastructure, liveability, connectivity and historic importance. The city is being built with expertise from Singapore at a cost of about $ 2 billion on a public-private partnership model. The state government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore government, which will construct the core capital region, comprising government buildings, in exchange for 10,000 acres of land in other parts of the city which it will develop for real estate. Naidu has also roped in some help from Japan.
The center has given approval for a 26 km metro project in Vijayawada, at an estimated cost of `6,823 crore and a greenfield airport. Officials say that the state expects $30 billion in investments over the next decade. Infrastructure projects proposed in the master plan will require $16.5 billion, according to one estimate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the new capital on October 22, Vijayadasami day.
Water and soil from 16,000 villages in the state, 33 rivers and holy shrines across the world have been collected and sprinkled in the 8,352 sq km Amaravati Capital Region. Modi brought water from river Jamuna and soil from parliament.
FUTURISTIC CAPITAL
The master plan for the new capital envisages a core capital, capital city and capital region in three layers boasting of tall glass structures, boulevards, wide roads and a pedestrian way, metro and river-way transport and walkways. A water taxi service like in Venice is also being planned. The core capital will consist of the Raj Bhavan, a secretariat and an assembly but financial support for these structures has to come from the Union government as specified in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act.
The 7,325-sq km Capital Region Plan is the first of a three-stage master plan for the capital city. Amravati will be a “blue and green” city involving nine mini cities dedicated exclusively to entertainment, education, health, economy, justice, hardware, electronics and tourism. Till now, the central government has allocated `1,500 crore. The new capital is planned for 1.40 crore people by 2050 and for creating 40 lakh jobs in the next few years.
According to officials, in the first phase, 95,000 jobs will be created followed by 1,60,000 in the second, 52,000 in the third, 1,77,000 in the fourth and 1,13,000 jobs in the fifth phase. The Andhra Pradesh government, through the AP Capital Region Development Authority, has acquired some 33,000 acres of land through a land pooling scheme. If government land is tagged, the land pool swells to 54,000 acres creating a massive land asset.
Naidu may face many challenges in fulfilling his dream. The first is the political challenge. Naidu is not on a strong wicket as the opposition parties, including the YSR Congress led by Jaganmohan Reddy, the Congress and the Left are critical of his inability to get special status for Andhra Pradesh. Prime Minister Modi announced no special package on the occasion of the capital’s foundation laying ceremony; he just stated that the center would stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Andhra Pradesh.
MOBILIZING FUNDS
Secondly, Naidu has to look elsewhere to mobilize funds for building Amravati. But despite his excellent marketing abilities, will he be able to attract finance? The fiscal deficit of Andhra Pradesh is more than `18,000 crore as compared to the cash-rich Telangana. While developing Cyberabad as part of the Hyderabad city, Naidu was in complete control and got finances from the center, which survived on his party’s support. Now the BJP has its own majority and TDP is a junior partner in the NDA. Modi has to balance requests from all the states.
Thirdly, there is criticism from other regions of the new state that they have been neglected and that regional imbalance is being created by diverting development funds meant for backward regions like Rayalaseema to the proposed capital.
Fourthly, although Naidu has acquired 33,000 acres, the opposition is critical of the acquisition process, and some farmers and civil society groups have moved courts claiming that environmental laws have been violated. It was also alleged that legislators and other TDP functionaries had coerced the farmers to sell their land.
Fifthly, there is the problem of Naidu’s continuity as CM. If the capital is to be built by 2024, he should come back to power after the 2019 assembly polls. That is why he plans to complete phase-I by 2018. It depends on how he establishes himself politically and whether he will be able deliver on all fronts.
COMPETITION
Lastly, it also depends on how Naidu deals with neighbouring Telangana. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had accused Naidu of being the mastermind in the recent cash-for-vote scandal, involving the buying over of MLAs. And as a competition to the Tirupati temple, Chandrasekhar Rao is now developing Yadagirigutta, a temple town 50 km from Hyderabad. Telangana has held massive overseas roadshows and has attracted investments from Amazon.com and other companies. Naidu, on the other hand, without even a capital, has attracted Japan’s SoftBank group in partnership with Bharti Enterprises, and Taiwanese firm Foxcom has promised $20 billion in solar and hybrid energy projects. Airbus and Essel are also likely to invest.
The CMs of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana should realize that complementing each other is more beneficial than being competitive.
However, setting aside all bitterness, Naidu showed some statesmanship by personally inviting his Telangana counterpart and the latter responded warmly by attending the function. If this is taken forward, both the cities will shine as jewels. The two CMs should realize that complementing each other is more beneficial than being competitive. If Andhra could leverage its coastline and fertile lands and Telangana could develop its mineral-rich areas and benefit from the economic potential of Hyderabad, both states would benefit. Hyderabad is in the same class as Mumbai, Chennai or Bangalore. Amravati could develop into a modern city and both Hyderabad and Amravati can be the pride of the Telugu people.