Can’t build Amaravati in six months, Jagan govt tells HC

Hyderabad

The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has told the state high court that it is practically impossible to complete the Amaravati capital city project within six months, a deadline set by the court in its order a month ago, and sought an extension of the time limit to 60 months.

An affidavit to this effect was filed by state chief secretary Sameer Sharma in the high court on Friday. The plea is expected to come up for hearing on Monday.

While reserving its right to challenge the March 3 judgment of the high court and seek legal remedies, the chief secretary requested that the state government and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (created in 2015 to construct the capital city at Amaravati) be permitted to continue the developmental works and that the deadlines fixed by the court be removed.

Alternatively, the affidavit said, the high court could extend the time limit to five years. “It is impossible for the state and the APCRDA to complete the entire capital city project and development of the capital region within the time frame indicated in the high court order due to limited financial resources and constraints, besides the priorities of the government for welfare and developmental activities,” Sharma said.

While upholding Amaravati as the only capital city of the state, the high court, in its order on March 3, directed that the state government construct and develop the capital city and capital region within six months’ time.

It also directed that the state government and APCRDA develop the reconstituted plots belonging to the farmers who had given away their lands for the capital city by providing approach roads, drinking water and electricity connection to each plot, and drainage within three months.

The chief secretary said the process of development in Amaravati entailed the revival or restarting of contracts for various works connected with the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) which were incomplete and consequently revival agreements had to be signed with the existing contractors.

Stating that the value of various works given on contract was estimated to be ₹42,231 crore, he said most of these contracts were executed primarily in anticipation of loans from multilateral financial institutions and that most of them did not fructify.

“The revival of these contracts would also entail resumption of negotiations with the financial institutions and also possible Central government grants for the same, the conclusion of which is a time-consuming process,” he said.

The chief secretary said the state government had started discussions with the financial institutions on March 23 for resumption of works on development of infrastructure and that the bankers had asked the APCRDA to submit detailed project reports on the works.

Sharma said despite the challenges, works on MLA and MLC quarters and All India Service Officers’ residential towers had resumed and those related to the residential quarters of the employees, gazetted officers and others would begin soon.

He also brought to the notice of the court that the development and allotment of reconstituted plots to the farmers who had given their lands under the Land Pooling Scheme would also take time, as change of land use was required for the land parcels identified in zones containing non-returnable plots.

Sharma also told the court that the Amaravati masterplan would be implemented in a phased manner. Fo that the government provided a guarantee to APCRDA to raise finances to the extent of ₹3,000 crore for implementing the phase-wise development of the masterplan. The government was extending the period of the guarantee, he said.