VIJAYAWADA: The state government has allocated 3.63 per cent or Rs 8,150.24 crore of the 2020-21 budget of Rs 2.24 lakh crore for urban development. Of the allocations, a majority of the funds have been earmarked for the creation of essential infrastructure in the new capital city; the Andhra Pradesh Township and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APTIDCO) is given Rs 526 crore for constructing five lakh houses for economically weaker sections; Rs 255.6 crore is earmarked under AMRUT scheme.
As much as Rs 65 crore is earmarked for payment of social security pension to the landless poor in Amaravati and another Rs 189 crore for payment of annuity to the farmers who had given their lands for Amaravati under land pooling scheme (LPS); Rs 300 crore has been allocated for smart cities.
The government has also allocated Rs 3.6 crore for Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation as urban development assistance to Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada metro rail projects. It may be noted that the government has already announced taking forward the Visakhapatnam metro project as the executive capital would be moved to the City of Destiny.
However, there was no update on the Vijayawada metro project, which remained in limbo. The budgetary allocation revives hopes as the budget outcome document states that the strategy includes taking up three corridors as part of the Vijayawada metro project, with Corridor-1 from airport to PNBS via railway station for a length of 26 km, Corridor-2 from PNBS to Penamaluru (12.5 km) for a total length of 38.5 km and Corridor-3 from Krishna Canal Junction to Amaravati for a length of 24 km.
Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said that the government was giving top priority to providing protected drinking water in all urban local bodies by strengthening existing infrastructure. “The government is executing water supply projects, building underground drainage networks and sewage treatment plants by mobilising resources through Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), HUDCO and in convergence with schemes like AMRUT and Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT),” he noted.
Accordingly, Rs 276 crore has been earmarked for the Andhra Pradesh Urban Water Supply and Septage Management Improvement Project being taken up with the AIIB’s assistance. He added that services in all the 110 ULBs will be implemented through ward secretariat and volunteer system; an active workforce of more than 35,000 ward secretariat staff and over 70,000 volunteers has been recruited. In this regard, Rs 656 crore has been earmarked for secretaries and Rs 404 crore for volunteers.
