The high-rises dotting the landscape are spacious flats for All India Service officers, MLAs and MLCs, non-gazetted officers, and class IV employees. (Express photo) The high-rises dotting the landscape are spacious flats for All India Service officers, MLAs and MLCs, non-gazetted officers, and class IV employees. (Express photo)

The first signs that a greenfield capital city is coming up are now visible in Amaravati, four and half years after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. As you drive into the capital region from Vijayawada, the vast stretches of barren land acquired from farmers are intermittently broken by newly-constructed 12-storied apartments, government complexes under construction, six-lane roads, trunk infrastructure development, and extensive excavation to lay underground utilities. One of the first buildings to be ready to move in is the court complex at Nelapadu from which the AP High Court will function from until the permanent building is ready at Justice City, where foundations are being laid nearby. The interim high court building was inaugurated by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on February 3.

The high-rises dotting the landscape are spacious flats for All India Service officers, MLAs and MLCs, non-gazetted officers, and class IV employees. Some of the buildings have got their first coat of paint and plumbing works are being carried out, and would be ready in two months. Officials said that out of 3,840 flats proposed to be constructed, a total of 1,086 have been completed till date.

Foundations have been laid for construction of 186 bungalows for judges, ministers, chief secretary, principal secretaries. The constructions of various buildings and facilities have started or are at an initial stage in all the proposed nine theme cities of Amaravati — Knowledge City, Health City, Electronics City, Tourism City, Justice City, Media City, Sports City, Finance City, and Government City. Officials said that the overall cost of construction of Amaravati capital in the first phase is Rs 48,116 crores out of which Rs 36,960 crores worth of construction works have been undertaken and are under execution.

Officials said that out of the total 320 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads which are part of the master plan, 285 km are currently under execution. (Source: Express Photo) Officials said that out of the total 320 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads which are part of the master plan, 285 km are currently under execution. (Source: Express Photo)

Dr Sreedhar Cherukuri, Commissioner of AP Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA), said that at Knowledge City, top educational institutions like Vellore Institute of Technology, SRM University, NID, Amity, Amrita University, Centurion University, Central Institute of Tool Design, and NIFT have started construction, or have already started functioning from their new premises.

At the Health City, facilities like AIIMS, Indo-UK Institute of Health, a 2,250-bed multi-super speciality hospital of Mata Amritanandamayi Trust, which is an extension of the Amrita Medical University at Knowledge City, are fast coming up.

Officials said that out of the total 320 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads which are part of the master plan, 285 km are currently under execution. A 45 km-long water supply network, 123 km-long sewerage network, and 640 km-long stormwater drain network is being laid with huge pipes lying alongside the trenches dug in the region.

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