VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday will lay the foundation of the five-towered Secretariat, to be built in Amaravati. He will formally launch the works of the largest raft foundation at 8.50 am at the work site between Kondamarajupalem and Rayapudi villages. The estimated cost of the project is said to be Rs 4,890 crore.
The APCRDA has already tendered out works worth Rs 2,271 crore, likely to be ready in two years. The super built-up area of all the towers, which will house the offices of heads of departments (HoDs), is 69.8 lakh square feet. The towers will be built on a sprawling 41 acres of land on either side of the Palavagu.
Touted to be the tallest Secretariat in the world, Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) has made elaborate arrangements for the 212-metre-high structure’s foundation stone-laying ceremony.
“All the five towers will have the same raft foundation. The raft will be laid with a volume of 12,000 cubic metre at a depth of 13 feet,” the officials explained.While the CMO and the General Administration department (GAD) will be in tower 5, the HoDs’ offices will be housed in the other four towers. The fifth tower will have 50 floors, while the others would be 40-storied each.
Besides the new Secretariat will also have many firsts to its credit. It will be the first structure in India to do away with the traditional pillars and have a diagrid structure. It will also have a twin-lift system, where there will be two cards in each shaft. “Another unique feature is that the fifth tower will have a helipad on its rooftop for the first time in our country,” APCRDA officials said.