Amaravati, a project in comatose, has come back to life after five years. The futuristic city was planned to be developed as the capital for Andhra Pradesh by Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu in his previous term as chief minister of the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s green signal to the project has turned the state’s proposed new capital into a reality.
The city would have been the new kid on the block, but for the change in government that made the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) Chief Jagan Reddy scrap the project, terming it a big scam. Top banks in the world funding the project withdrew the loans, turning Amaravati, located on the banks of the Krishna River, into a ghost town.
Planned by a Singapore company, Amaravati would have been a Chandigarh-like planned city where all supporting infrastructure, such as electric cables, water supply and internet connections, were proposed to be underground. The inauguration of Amaravati by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is nothing but a dream come true for Naidu, who incidentally is also the architect of developing Hyderabad into a cyber-hub that houses top technology companies of the world.
Once in place, Amaravati is the likely claimant for the position of becoming the only capital city of the state. The previous YSRCP government experimented with a three-capital model that failed from inception. People always detested the idea of running between three far-away cities - Vijayawada as the legislative capital, Visakhapatnam as its executive capital and Kurnool as the judicial capital.
After Naidu demitted the chief minister's office after losing the 2019 elections, the YSRCP government termed the Amaravati Capital Project a "scam" where the government had cheated farmers to part with their fertile lands. Naidu's government had acquired around 30 thousand acres of land from the farmers in and around the Amaravati region.
Though scrapping Amaravati was a political decision to fulfil an election promise, the government justified it by promoting a theory that multiple state capitals would allow the development of several regions of the state, and hence lead to inclusive growth.
The YSRCP Government brought the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly to further the three-capital concept. However, when the three-capital concept did not work, in November 2021, the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Repeal Bill, 2021, was introduced, aiming to repeal the earlier laws that aimed to plug loopholes in the previous version.
Naidu's desire to build something phenomenal was rekindled with Naidu's 2024 return to power. This, coupled with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fresh funding and the inauguration of the relaunch of the construction work at Amaravati, has given India hope to see a world-class city coming up in the next few years. After Chandigarh, this would be India's second planned city with world-class infrastructure.
It wasn't so much Amaravati's storied past that caught the government's eye back in 2014, but rather its splendid positioning on the map. After the rather messy split that gave us Andhra Pradesh on one side and Telangana on the other, the residents in Andhra found themselves in desperate need of a proper capital. Hyderabad, which both states were meant to share for a decade, would ultimately fall to Telangana's lot. The Andhra Reorganisation Act simply left the ball in Andhra's court to sort out where they'd plant their new governmental flag.
A whole host of reasons tipped the scales in Amaravati's favour. The spot's brilliant location—smack in the middle of the state, hugging the banks of the lovely Krishna River, and a stone's throw from bustling Guntur and Vijayawada—meant nobody would have to trek too far to reach it. The place also carries a certain gravitas with its rich heritage, giving people a sense of belonging and tradition. What's more, it sits rather attractively within the Krishna delta's lush farmlands and boasts excellent train and road links to boot.
Amravati was planned to be built on land acquired without large-scale displacement. Naidu suggested a Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) during his earlier tenure in 2015. This meant, instead of compulsory acquisition, landowners were offered annual compensation and a share of developed plots in the new capital.
Approximately 33,000 acres were obtained from farmers in the Guntur district under the LPS. Wet agricultural landowners contributed their land voluntarily in exchange for 1,000 sq. yards of residential plots and 450 sq. yards of commercial plots per acre. They were also to receive annual compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre, with a 10 per cent annual increase for 10 years. Dry agricultural landowners received 250 square yards of commercial plots per acre and Rs 30,000 annual compensation per acre, also with a 10 per cent yearly increase for ten years. Landless farmers were promised a monthly pension of Rs 2,500 for ten years.
Designed as "Praja Rajadhani" (the people's capital), Amaravati features nine themed sub-cities, including one dedicated to governance. The government complex centres around a green spine inspired by Lutyens' New Delhi and New York's Central Park, connecting key structures like the Legislative Assembly and High Court. The Assembly is designed as a 250-metre-tall tower shaped like an inverted lily, representing democracy and culture. The city utilises a strong urban grid with a mixed-use quarter organised around 13 urban plazas symbolising the state's districts. Amaravati's zoning strategy includes specialised thematic clusters such as Government City, Justice City, and Knowledge City to foster economic growth by grouping related businesses and institutions in dedicated districts.
Amaravati is not just Naidu's vision of a utopian city or an unfulfilled promise to the people of Andhra Pradesh. It is an ambitious green field capital with a globally designed master plan and a unique land pooling model that involves farmers directly. It now appears that with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) back in power, the hopes, dreams and aspirations of all the stakeholders that were paused in 2019, Amaravati's revival is now a certainty.
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