After a five-year break, preparations are on to resume construction on Amaravati, the state capital of Andhra Pradesh, as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu is ready to assume office for a record-breaking fourth time. Following the foundation stone being laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2015, the construction of the greenfield capital city began with much fanfare. However, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy unexpectedly stopped the work in 2019 after unseating Mr. Naidu to become Chief Minister.

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 informed The Hindu about the ongoing works in the capital city. He stated that senior officials are currently reviewing the status of the works. Yadav mentioned that clearance of bushes and shrubs has commenced at important buildings such as the Secretariat, High Court, Seed Access Road, and under-construction residential quarters for ministers, judges, MLAs, and MLCs. Additionally, street lighting in villages is also being addressed. He further informed us that the contractors are willing to resume work, and the CRDA authorities, along with the state government, are interested in re-evaluating the entire project to gain a better understanding of the status of the stalled work.

Yadav mentioned that following the completion of the swearing-in ceremony, a high-level meeting will be held by the Chief Minister, after which the CRDA will receive proper directions regarding infrastructure development works.

Regarding contractors, major contractors like Larsen & Toubro, Navayuga, and NCC are in coordination with government authorities. CRDA officials plan to conduct meetings with all the contractors before work resumes. The APCRDA is expected to settle the dues of these contractors for the work completed so far. Additionally, developers stated that the contractors had mobilised construction material for their respective projects, and the APCRDA should clear the bills for that as well. For instance, senior employees of L&T revealed in a recent conversation that they have been waiting for the release of dues amounting to Rs 8 billion.

Both Chief Secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad and Mr. Vivek Yadav visited infrastructure projects in Amaravati to assess the actual status of the stalled works. They observed that there has been a significant escalation in prices compared to the agreed-upon tender prices from five or six years ago. Hence, negotiating these prices due to the delay is another task facing the CRDA before they restart the halted work.