Capital can’t be developed in Amaravati in 6 months: Andhra government to High Court

The court also directed the State government and APCRDA to file affidavits periodically, detailing the progress of the implementation of its orders.
On March 3, the High Court in its verdict had directed the State government to build and develop Amaravati capital city and capital region within six months.
On March 3, the High Court in its verdict had directed the State government to build and develop Amaravati capital city and capital region within six months.

VIJAYAWADA: Developing Amaravati capital city and capital region in six months time is not possible, the State government informed the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in a counter affidavit filed on Friday.

Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma filed the counter affidavit on behalf of the State government and the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) urging the court to either remove the time frame for the implementation of its orders or extend it to five years.

The court was urged to permit the government and APCRDA to only develop the capital city, considering the availability of funds and associated problems, as it has to prioritise the flow of funds for various welfare schemes being implemented in the State.

On March 3, the High Court in its verdict had directed the State government to build and develop Amaravati capital city and capital region within six months, hand over the developed and reconstituted plots belonging to landowners in Amaravati capital region within three months, and complete the process of development of infrastructure in the Amaravati capital city and region by providing basic amenities like roads, drinking water, drainage and electricity within one month.

The court also directed the State government and APCRDA to file affidavits periodically, detailing the progress of the implementation of its orders.

Describing the development of a capital city as a continuous process, the government in the affidavit stated that fixing a time frame for the same and funding was not possible.

In the 190-page affidavit, the Chief Secretary attached the details of transactions between the government and farmers, who gave their lands to APCRDA under the Land Pooling scheme, letters written to them by the government in this regard, communications with contractors and banks, letters to the Centre and NITI Aayog seeking funds for the capital city development and other related documents.

Sameer Sharma said they had filed the affidavit to elaborate on the difficulties in implementing the court orders and the situation which makes the implementation of certain conditions in the orders impossible, before taking legal recourse over the aftermath of the High Court orders.

Stating that 60 moths is the time required for trunk infrastructure development in the capital region, the Chief Secretary mentioned that it will take two months for the process of submission of proposals to extend contract period by constructors, necessary permissions and auxiliary contracts once permissions are given and another four months for verifications, surveys and designs, and another two months for mobilisation of workforce, machinery and materials.

Development of roads will take 16 months and another 26 months are required for construction of water distribution network, drainage, power distribution and other basic infrastructure.

Informing the court that works at MLA, MLC and IAS towers have recommenced and the deadline for completion of those three towers has been set as November 31, 2022, the Chief Secretary said bills of the agencies executing the works have been cleared. He added that works pertaining to apartments for NGOs, type 1 and type 2 gazetted officers and group D officers will commence shortly and that the contractors have urged for extension of time to complete the project works.

Explaining that the remaining works in the capital region will cost an estimated Rs 42,231 crore, the Chief Secretary informed the court that the government is currently negotiating with financial institutions for mobilising funds.

Giving details of the funds released so far, Sharma explained that the estimated cost for the first phase of the capital city project was pegged at Rs 51,687 crore. Between 2015 and 2019, the State government released Rs 1,377 crore and during 2020-22, Rs 1,646 crore was released. The APCRDA on its own had secured Rs 5,122 crore. The State government stood as a guarantee for APCRDA to raise funds for the development of the capital city in a phased manner, but APCRDA failed to mobilise the amount and requested for an extension of guarantee. Orders for the same will be issued shortly.

Sharma pointed out that as per the AP Reorganisation Act, the Centre has to fund the construction of Raj Bhavan, High Court, Secretariat, State Legislative Assembly and Council.

The Centre has released Rs 1,500 crore for the same while the State has spent 1,632 crore and another Rs 3,023 crore has been given as grants.

Noting that the previous estimates of the project are bound to increase, the Chief Secretary in the affidavit said, in 2018, the State government wrote a letter to the Centre stating that the estimated cost of the capital city project was Rs 1.09 lakh crore and submitted DPRs for works worth Rs 62,625 crore. The Centre sought certain clarifications and the same will be submitted shortly, Sharma added.

‘APCRDA deadline for returnable plots 2024’

Referring to returnable plots, the Chief Secretary pointed out that as per the Land Pooling Scheme, within three years from the last notification, returnable plots need to be developed and in 2020, APCRDA extended the deadline to 2024

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