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The Andhra Pradesh government has constituted an Implementation Committee for the Amaravati Economic Region (AER) and notified the Common Zoning Regulations, 2026, as part of efforts to accelerate infrastructure development, attract investment, and streamline urban approvals across the state.
The Implementation Committee was constituted through a G.O. issued by the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department. The move marks the transition of the AER from the planning stage to execution, following the formation of its Regional Planning Board in February.
The AER includes the districts of NTR, Krishna, Eluru, West Godavari, Guntur, Palnadu, Bapatla, Prakasam, and Markapuram. The government aims to develop Amaravati as the centre of a globally competitive economic region through integrated planning, infrastructure development, industrialisation, logistics, urbanisation, and investment promotion.
The committee will be chaired by the AER chief executive officer. District collectors, municipal commissioners, and commissioners of regional development authorities will be members, while the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Commissioner will serve as the member-convener.
The panel will prepare an implementation roadmap, coordinate with Union ministries and investors, mobilise funds, resolve land and policy issues, and monitor projects through a digital dashboard. Municipal Administration and Urban Development Principal Secretary S Suresh Kumar said projects would be prioritised based on their economic impact, employment potential, investment prospects, and readiness for implementation. The projects will have defined milestones and will be reviewed every month, according to Deccan Chronicle.
The Common Zoning Regulations, 2026, will replace multiple previous zoning systems with a uniform framework for land use and urban development. The regulations will apply to Master Plans, Zonal Development Plans and General Town Planning Schemes across Andhra Pradesh, except in the Capital City area.
The rules supersede the regulations issued through the G.O. on October 22, 2025. They group land use into nine categories: residential, commercial, public and semi-public, recreational, industrial, transportation, mixed use, agricultural, and development-restricted zones, The Hindu reported.
Development-restricted zones include heritage and defence precincts, water bodies, forests, hills, eco-sensitive areas, and coastal regulation zones. The new framework follows a zone-wise negative-list approach, allowing compatible activities unless they are specifically prohibited.
However, all development will continue to be subject to building and layout rules, environmental regulations, road-width requirements, parking standards, safety distances and infrastructure conditions. Activities that could cause pollution, congestion or safety hazards, including polluting industries, hazardous storage facilities, slaughterhouses, large logistics facilities, mining and waste-disposal operations, will remain prohibited in residential areas, the report said.
Parks, open spaces, water bodies, forests, hill areas, heritage precincts and other environmentally sensitive locations will continue to be protected from incompatible development.
The regulations also allow certain non-residential activities on plots of at least 300 square metres that abut existing or proposed roads of at least 60 feet in width, subject to impact fees and land-use charges. This provision will not apply to parks, open spaces, recreational zones, hill areas, protected zones, public utilities or other sensitive land uses.
In agricultural zones, White and Green category industries may be permitted subject to Pollution Control Board conditions and prescribed buffers. Farmhouses may be allowed on plots of at least 0.50 acre, provided ground coverage does not exceed 10% and the structure is restricted to G+1 floors and a maximum height of 11 metres.
