AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh Municipal Minister P Narayana announced on Saturday that the debts related to the greenfield capital city of Amaravati will be resolved by selling 5,000 acres of land, rather than using taxpayer funds.
The minister remarked that the state has allocated 5,000 acres in Amaravati, estimating that each acre could be valued at Rs 20 crore by the time construction of the greenfield capital is finalized.
“We will not utilize the taxes paid by citizens to settle Amaravati’s debts. Instead, we will clear them through the sale of 5,000 acres of land in Amaravati,” Narayana stated in an official press release, hinting at a visionary perspective akin to that of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
According to Narayana, the TDP-led administration has already invested Rs 10,000 crore in Amaravati and has initiated tenders for projects worth Rs 51,000 crore.
On April 10, Narayana revealed that farmers from Pedaparimi village had contributed 1,000 acres under the land pooling scheme for the greenfield capital, bringing the total to nearly 34,983 acres from 31,150 farmers so far.
He emphasized that 98.6% of returnable plots have been delivered, with 62,942 plots registered.
Out of these, 30,074 farmers received the plots, while the allocation of an additional 450 acres to 651 farmers remains pending due to ongoing court cases.
Furthermore, Narayana accused former CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy of engaging in “venomous propaganda” against the greenfield capital and claimed that YSRCP leaders target Amaravati with daily negative stories.
Narayana expressed that YSRCP leaders are troubled by the rapid progress of construction works in Amaravati.
He also referenced Jagan Mohan Reddy’s proposal for the MAVIGUN region, which the former CM promoted as a more feasible alternative for the capital.
Narayana dismissed this proposal, supporting the current scope of Amaravati as an “international standard” project, designed to be a modern, sustainable, and even “mosquito-less” city.
On April 1, Jagan proposed that the MAVIGUN area—comprising Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, and Guntur—should be designated as the capital corridor, labeling the Rs 2 lakh crore Amaravati project as impractical due to the existing national highways in MAVIGUN.
Narayana expressed regret over delays caused by the prior government, noting that construction costs have significantly increased since 2019.
