Andhra Pradesh Govt approves CRDA's plan to sale Amaravati

The Andhra Pradesh government has taken a critical step by approving Capital Region Development Authority’s (CRDA's) plan to put the Amaravati land up for sale to begin infrastructure construction following the master plan. The government permitted the auction of roughly 248 acres to raise Rs 2,480 crore and set the offset price at Rs 10 crore per acre. After evaluating the response to the first round of auction, the state government is likely to proceed with the sale of further lands in stages. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the chief minister, the municipal administration department, and CRDA representatives examined the capital city region's proposed development projects. The authorities spoke about the document submitted to the high court, which promised to begin the development projects outlined in the CRDA master plan. Following the High Court's decision to implement the CRDA master plan without any deviations, the state government had pledged to start all the projects guaranteed under the plan. To restart the development projects that were put on hold after the YSRCP took office in 2019, the state administration initially tried to acquire a loan from a group of banks. The government held talks with financiers to finance nearly Rs 3,000 crore to begin the first phase of construction, which included finishing the IAS officers', lawmakers', and secretariat personnel' apartments. Additionally, the government suggested finishing the infrastructure projects in the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) designs given to the farmers who sold their lands to build the capital city. Before registering the plots with the farmers, the government had to finish construction on the roads, drains, and street lighting in the LPS layouts. According to the media sources, the bankers only indicated their willingness to approve the loan requested by the CRDA after obtaining a counter-guarantee from the state government and mortgaging the Amaravati land. Bankers were hesitant to lend the CRDA a large sum of money just by mortgaging the land because they were concerned about the rise in the market value of the land in Amaravati as a result of the state government's conflicting policies. Interestingly, the state government allegedly refused to provide a counter-guarantee for the CRDA loan, forcing the financiers to abandon the project. The state government had decided to sell the lands in the capital city area to begin the works after challenging its pledges in the high court. Image Source Also read: CHB awaits eco-clearance for IT Park housing scheme