Hyderabad: Construction of a new capital city of Andhra Pradesh on the southern side of river Krishna near Vijayawada is set to begin in June after International Enterprise Singapore (IES) submits a draft master plan, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said here on monday.
Singapore government arm IES, with which the AP government signed a memorandum of understanding to prepare the master plan for the state's new capital region, would complete its Stage-1 “visioning exercise” by mid-February and a detailed action plan as well as zoning by April end in Stage-2, he told a press conference where visiting Singapore Minister Eswaran was present.
The master plan for the main capital area spread over eight square kilometres would be ready by the first week of June. “We will begin the capital construction work after the master plan is approved,” the Chief Minister said. The Japanese government would suggest ways to attract investments into various sectors in the main capital area.
“The governments of AP, Singapore and Japan will sit together and discuss development plans for the rest of AP capital region. We are going ahead positively. The Singapore and Japan governments are fully cooperating. Japan will come up with plans for industrialisation and investments in the capital region,” Naidu said.
He said that so far, 1,779 farmers from villages in the proposed capital region have handed over 3,900 acres of land to the state government under the land pooling scheme for the capital's construction.
“This is a win-win situation for all as we will build a world-class capital city with a variety of economic activity,” he said.
The Singaporean minister said his government has entrusted the masterplan preparation work to Jurong and Surbana having wide-ranging experience and expertise.
“We have a long history of relationship with AP and we will help it in building a smart capital city,” Eswaran said. Naidu said that a temporary capital would be built near Vijayawada by June, using pre-fabricated structures, to shift most state government offices from Hyderabad.
“Only skeletal offices will remain in Hyderabad and we will function from the temporary capital by June or July,” he said.
