“The state government has to spend R32,500 crore in the next four years for creation of infrastructure in capital city Amaravati,” (Reuters)

World Bank, Hudco and Andhra Bank together have ‘in-principle’ sanctioned an amount of around R17,500 crore for building the greenfield capital city, Amaravati. According to Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the state government has proposed to spend R32,500 crore in the next four years to build Amaravati city.

Naidu has also directed officials to scout for international funding agencies that extend loans at cheaper rates of interest. “The state government has to spend R32,500 crore in the next four years for creation of infrastructure in capital city Amaravati,” Naidu said.

Ajay Jain, principal secretary, energy, I&I, CRDA, AP, said this is the first time in the country that any of the financial institutions have supported such a massive scale of construction.

Corporate majors such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Tesla, GE, etc, which are in the front-end for disruptive technologies, may be associated with Amaravati construction for economic development and employment generation. The government plans to pool up required funds and it was necessary to zero in on financial institutions for the funding, a release said.

Besides, the state government is also exploring alternative funding sources like pension funds and sovereign funds to achieve low-cost funding for capital construction. A loan of R7,500 crore had been tied up with Hudco and the World Bank loan for R4,700 crore had also been approved by the central government.

As per rough estimates, the government has proposed to spend R4,967 crore on roads and R750 crore on drinking water and sewerage facilities. Besides, R3,287 crore will be spent on the power sector. Another R1,000 crore was required for flood management and R250 crore for greenery, R519 crore was required to provide infrastructure in the villages of the capital city.

Explaining the latest developments, Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) commissioner Cherukuri Sridhar said SRM university’s proposal for setting up of university in Amaravati was approved by the state cabinet and it is proposed to allocate 200 acres of land to set up university campus with 17,000 students by the end of phase-1 in five years and 52,000 students by the end of phase-2 in 10 years. This campus would include a medical college and university.

Indo-UK Institute of Health (IUIH) in collaboration with King’s College, London, proposes to establish healthcare project in Amaravati with an investment of R1,000 crore. IUIH is allocated 150 acres of land in Amaravati. phase-1 of project 1,000-bed King’s College Hospital, 200-student nursing school, 200-student paramedic training school, NHS Oncology Unit with rehabilitation centre, and IUIH supply chain centres. phase-2 project includes King’s College London medical college, Zimmer Biomet PG Medical Centre, IBM Asia data analytics centre, implant manufacturing industry, NHS stem cells — transnational research and medical centre, 5-star and 3-star hotels.

Besides, the state government is also contemplating to allot 200 acres of land to Amrita university which has proposed to set up its campus in Amaravati with 18,000 students by the end of phase-1 and 47,000 students by the end of second phase.