GUNTUR: Guntur, which has been neglected for years, is getting a much-needed facelift, thanks to state capital Amaravati coming up in the district on the Krishna river bank.
With Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu promising to release funds for development works in Guntur district, the authorities are lining up several projects for which the residents have been asking for a very long time. As the state government is planning to conduct the 150th anniversary of the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) on a grand scale, the government has expressed willingness to clear the projects without any delay.
With the assurance coming from the state government, the officials have initiated measures for taking up projects which include Shilparmam. As the government had already released `1 crore, it wants to go ahead with the project at Gorantla immediately. As part of the project, the exhibition ground, compound wall, ticket counter, stalls, food court, toilets and theatre, inner roads and pathways will be constructed in the first phase.
The other projects under consideration include construction of flyovers at Syamala Nagar and Muduvantenala Centre. After the completion of these flyovers, the authorities are proposing to build a new flyover in addition to the existing one connecting AC college with Shankar Vilas centre over railway lines.
Since there is no public auditorium like Ravindra Bharati in Hyderabad, the municipal authorities are planning to construct one on the premises of Venkateswara Vignanan Mandir. This apart, BR stadium will be developed on par with international standards under private-public-partnership (PPP) .
The GMC is also planning to construct multi-storeyed buildings after shifting the district jail. The state government has already sanctioned 11,808 houses to white card holders and to develop slum-free areas in the city. Also, it cleared `70 crore from SC,ST sub plan funds. Already underground drainage works are going on in the city with the funds the government had allocated.
The GMC officials had given presentations to APCRDA officials and Ministers with all details of the projects. Social Welfare Minister Ravela Kishore Babu said: “Guntur is transforming into a major city. It is the duty of the GMC to lay stress on clean and green programme in the future.”