Of the total 68 works with a contract value of Rs 35,847 crore meant for developing Amaravati, 21 projects have achieved less than 1% physical progress, said Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botcha Satyanarayana on Saturday. The state government now reportedly intends to shelve many of these projects to build the capital catering to "local aspirations" and not burden the state exchequer.
The comment by the minister comes at a time when the World Bank a $300 million loan for the city earlier this week. The state government has also constituted an expert committee and are awaiting its report to take a final call on the construction of the capital.
"Only 10 projects like buildings for officials and MLAs/MLCs, seed access road and Judicial Complex saw more than 50 % progress. Most of the remaining works worth over Rs 12,000 crore has achieved 0 to 1% physical progress" said Botcha Sathyanayana to TNIE.
“We are awaiting the report of the technical committee so that we know how much corruption happened. Then, we will chalk out a strategy on capital development and the projects to be taken forward,” he added.
Many Amaravati projects will reportedly be downscaled or shelved. ”The TDP planned a Rs 1.09 lakh crore capital, which is half of our state’s budget. Let us be practical. Do we need a city which would burden the state for generations to come? No. So, we will be pragmatic and do away with projects which are not needed," said an official to TNIE.
Speaking to reporters, the minister said, “We don't need the best capital in the world. We will definitely build one of the best in the country, but we will do that keeping our state’s finances and local aspirations in mind.”