Revival of AP’s Capital: Amaravati’s future is in safe hands

Amaravati, the yet-to-be-constructed capital of Andhra Pradesh, is the pride of the Telugu people. The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, laid the first foundation stone for Amaravati at Uddandarayunipalem in 2015. Since then, the work has taken the fast route despite the peaks and valleys in the funding, until the opposition party, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress (YSRC), dethroned the power from the TDP government in 2019. It was a brimming time for Andhra Pradesh, as the capital was under formation and making when YS Jagan Mohan Reddy took charge as the newly elected Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (AP). Under his leadership, woefully as expected, the so-called People's Capital project came to a standstill, throwing a wrench in Naidu's long-awaited master plan. So, what went wrong? Why was there no progress in the Amaravati region?

Andhra Pradesh bifurcation

Andhra Pradesh was once called "The United Andhra Pradesh", until the 2014 bifurcation. Upon this poignant and painful separation, Andhra Pradesh didn't have any capital to be recognised on the India Map since then. So, Hyderabad was designated as the combined capital for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. During the Andhra-Telangana bifurcation, there were incessant brawls on every micro and macro aspect of the two separated states, say, power bills, land, payments, water, etc.

In the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014, it was clearly stated that Hyderabad would solely be the common capital for the State of Andhra Pradesh and the State of Telangana, however, with a condition - that it would be only for 10 long years, and upon expiry of the said period, Andhra Pradesh shall have a new capital to represent themselves thereafter. As of June 2, 2024, the 10-year period came to a tail end, and the urgency to have new capital was put forth in front of both the state & central government.

It was the test of time for YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (now Ex-CM of AP), as the 2024 general elections were very much happening in the favour of other parties including BJP, TDP, JSP, etc. Amid general elections, the Andhra Pradesh state was crumbling like a house of cards, with people crying for swift aid, a call for immediate capital, and a fight for survival.

Background of Amaravati capital

Amaravati is not just a capital-in-making for Andhra Pradesh but a road to a better future in all parts of the country and worldwide. There's a saying that "Rome wasn't built in a day," likewise, people might not discern the returns of today's investment seeds in Amaravati. To build this capital, CM Babu joined hands with the Singapore government for planning and resources during the TDP regime before 2019, until the Jagan government came and discarded the existing blueprint of this transformative project. This resulted in demolishing the dreams of the Andhra people and farmers' trust and confidence in who gave their lands for Amaravati formation. Under Jagan's rule, the Andhra Pradesh (AP) government decided to have three capitals, where Amaravati was kept as the Legislative capital, Kurnool was given the judicial capital, and Visakhapatnam was established as an executive capital. This half-baked thought of Jagan kept Amaravati's project on hold, letting Andhra Pradesh hang out dry. Recently, a white paper was released by the Chandrababu government on the Andhra's spending by the Jagan government. The official paper said that Jagan's government incurred a loss of Rs 6.94 lakh crores in revenue.

Slump of Amaravati's dream

Jagan and his government failed to live up to their leadership responsibilities and promises during their ruling era, which led to the downfall of not only Amaravati - a capital that was awaited by millions of AP people, but also Andhra Pradesh as a whole. Even the "Special Category Status" for Andhra Pradesh has been lost to the mists of time. There were biased comments passed by the Jagan government on the capital revival that just like Nara Chandrababu Naidu boasts himself of building Hyderabad, which he claims in the majority of the meetings, he would do the same with Amaravati too.

While that may be true, people in the Andhra state aren't blindfolded to what's happening around them. Most of the funding was utilised for personal gains like building palaces and bungalows in the name of ministry and government. Amaravati, before the thought of capital establishment, was surrounded by lush greenery, filled with acres of crops, that danced to the Krishna river with ecstasy. However, upon the thought of capital in Amaravati, the very productive lands were taken by the TDP government with a promise of compensation of Rs 30,000 for dry land and Rs 50,000 for wetlands annually in return. Also, the government promised to offer a monthly compensation of Rs 2500 for landless farmers for 10 years.

For the last five years, the Ex-CM of AP, Jagan Mohan Reddy, failed to deploy the said promises and financial commitments made by the previous TDP government amid their ruling and all the Amaravati farmers were knocked with bad luck. Instead of taking the dream forward, Jagan dismantled the existing one and went on to build new ones by spending lavishly on infrastructure setups to enjoy his luxurious stays and meetings.

Besides, most of the projects started by Jagan and his government amid their ruling tenure were left in half-baked shape, leaving the state accounts high and dry with a negative balance in the hands of the present-day government. As a consequence, several farmers took poorly compensated jobs to survive their daily lives during the entire Jagan's ruling period. Even some buildings that were built in Amaravati during the TDP period were now in an abysmal state due to a lack of development and attention by the Jagan government to continuing the progress of capital building.

Amaravati's resurgence

The stranded buildings, the hushed empty roads, the vacant lands, and the unfinished Amaravati business tell us where Andhra Pradesh stands today. According to the World Bank press release in 2019, the Jagan government has withdrawn the financing contract for the Amaravati establishment. The white paper clearly stated that due to the previous government's foreplay with policy changes, illegal contracts, halting of the Amaravati capital building, and destruction of the Polavaram national project, the AP state's loss surged from Rs 3.75 lakh crore to Rs 9.74 lakh crore in the past half-decade.

Yet, in the general elections of 2024, the TDP, JSP, and BJP parties made a clean sweep, by forming a coalition government with happy smiles, keeping Jagan and YSRCP out of the winning squad. In AP, the TDP party has won 135 out of 144 total contested seats followed by JSP party with 21 seats, winning all of them they contested for, and BJP won 8 out of 10 contested seats respectively. The surprising twist here was that the BJP who always showed aversion to supporting South India including Andhra Pradesh, came flying to grab the hands of TDP and JSP parties and mutually decided to form a new government.

With Jagan out of AP's way, the move to form a coalition government has been a game changer for AP, TDP, JSP, and BJP too. A win-win for all the parties and the Andhra State development is now in the safe hands of big players like PM Modi, AP CM Chandrababu, and AP Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan. This good news came like a bolt from the blue to the Amaravati netizens and Andhra people. All of a sudden, what was once promised by the TDP government for the establishment of Amaravati capital, came to life and started happening. Following the elections, upon TDP's victory, the resurgence of Amaravati began, and most of the contracts were revived at a healthy pace.

Amaravati capital funding & investments

AP CM Chandrababu Naidu planted the seeds of Amaravati in 2014 with an aim and vision to build the best capital that outshines every other capital in India. In the first phase of Amaravati's capital progress, the Chandrababu government surmised a capital expenditure of Rs 51,000+ crore or $7.2 billion. As per the AP CRDA White Paper records, the central government funded Rs 1,500 crore for the Amaravati project in the starting stage as opposed to the Chief Minister's request of Rs 2 Lakh crores as of May 2019.

Additionally, the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) stepped forward to offer a loan commitment of $300 million (Rs 2,100 crore) and $200 million (Rs 1400 crore) respectively, but these two international agencies withdrew from the deal upon Amaravati works coming to a grinding halt. This was a double whammy effect for the Amaravati capital and Andhra people.

According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore reports, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has made a deal, a Singapore consortium, with Ascendas-Singbridge and Sembcorp Development, to build the core part of the Amaravati capital on a 6.84 square kilometre Start-up Area. Singapore's Minister-in-Charge of Trade Relations S Iswaran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu to kickstart the works of building the new dream capital and benefit collaboratively in key areas such as commercial opportunities, urban governance, security, and education.

Mr Iswaran said, "I am happy that Singapore and our companies can make a meaningful contribution to realizing the vision of the Government and people of Andhra Pradesh, of Amaravati as the ‘People's Capital'. SembCorp Development and Ascendas-Singbridge have a strong track record in developing industrial parks and townships across Asia, drawing investments and creating jobs for their host countries. This development will offer growth opportunities for Singapore companies not only in Amaravati City but also in the state of Andhra Pradesh and the wider Indian market. I encourage Singapore companies to study and seize these opportunities as part of their internationalization strategy."

Even SRM and VIT were given land to set up their institutions. However, all these projects were paused and destroyed by the YSRCP government since they came into power in 2019, cancelling the existing contracts with international associations. Singapore agencies like Ascendas-Singbridge and Sembcorp Development stepped back from the financial commitment too due to funding hassles.

Till 2019, the Chandrababu government spent Rs 10,000 crores on laying the basic foundation of the Amaravati capital like roads, infrastructure, government buildings, etc. Following the 2019 general elections, when Jagan took the throne as AP's CM, the capital almost turned into a charnel house. Since December 2019, the farmers have been protesting with pesticide cans in their hands, especially after hearing the 3-capital idea by Jagan.

Sadly enough, the TDP party has no say on whatsoever Jagan was doing back during his ruling time. In 2023, the Jagan government decided to build houses for the poor in the R5 Zone under the "Pedalandariki Illu" scheme. Jagan also laid the foundation stone to kickstart this new project, yet, the farmers' protest didn't stop until Nara Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as the new CM of Andhra Pradesh.

As of the reports, 28,526 Amaravati farmers protested for 1,631 days, which is equivalent to 4.5 years. After a long wait, the farmers' protests ended on 12th June 2024, as they cleared all the protest camps, knowing that Chandrababu and his government came back to rescue and revive the capital.

Amaravati's road map ahead

The funding and investment condition of Andhra Pradesh is like a drowning ship due to the previous government's sloppy spending and thoughtless borrowings. As no one wants to be on the losing side, the idea to form a coalition government, bringing 3 big parties (BJP, TDP, & JSP) together on one single platform, has hugely helped Andhra Pradesh, mostly financially. On this note, the centre allocated Rs 15,000 crore in funding for building the Amaravati capital in the recent 2024 union budget.

In a press conference, the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said they are getting this considerable funding from multilateral agencies, and not as a grant, per se. While the Andhra Pradesh state people were happily celebrating knowing that Amaravati capital works finally got started, the central government killed that very joy in seconds after unveiling the hidden truth behind Rs 15,000 crore - that it's a loan, not a grant - meaning a debt that Andhra Pradesh have to repay in the later years to come.

However, the centre said that they would keep helping the AP government with the necessary funding to finish the Amaravati capital establishment. There hasn't been any clear info on the sources of their offer but this is more like an adage that goes by saying "Every cloud has a silver lining", and so do the hopes of the Andhra people and the state government. Real estate-wise, the land prices of Amaravati have already been skyrocketing, touching the nerves of Hyderabad real estate agencies and land owners. Initially, the land rate per sq. yard in Amaravati used to cost anywhere between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, and now, when things started to take pace, it spiked to Rs 25,000 to Rs 45,000 per sq. yard, as per several reports. This value will keep surging as long as people witness the real ultimate development in Amaravati. The Amaravati netizens and farmers believe that as long as Chandrababu Naidu stays with Andhra Pradesh, the capital and the state will keep flourishing