Amaravati, once the glorious capital of the first Andhra rulers about 2,000 years ago, is most likely to be zeroed in on for the capital city of the new State, according to reliable sources.
The region between the Krishna and the Godavari has a whopping 25,000-acre government land to offer, besides its access to abundant water resources.
The historic town was known as ‘Dharanikota’ and the Sathavahanas, who ruled much of India between the second and third century BC, made it their capital.
“The place was under active consideration, and several corporate biggies have already started acquiring land there, which gives further proof. Availability of huge chunk of land saves a lot of money for the government, and it is the need of the hour,” said a public sector bank general manager under conditions of anonymity.
Incidentally, Amaravati, which is located between Vijayawada and Guntur, was one among the places evaluated by the Sivaramakrishnan Committee that works on locating the capital.
The government is also keen to develop IT, health and manufacturing clusters at Mangalari, Agiripalli near Gannavaram airport and Bapulapadu in VGTM.
The historic town in the VGTM (Vijayawada, Guntur, Tenali and Mangalagiri) region, which is just 46 km away from Vijayawada and over 30 km from Guntur, can easily accommodate a world class city including a green field airport that requires 5,000 acres.
In the light of sky-rocketing land prices in Vijayawada and Guntur, where an acre near Gannavaram airport is quoted at Rs. 30 crore, Amaravati emerges as the most-preferred location, thanks to free government land for capital, according to industry experts.
Endorsing the suitability of Amaravati for being made capital, Maruti Shankar, managing director of the Hyderabad-based listed firm 7Seas Entertainment Limited, said such a location with a possibility of government land allotment could give sufficient boost to the IT industry.
“In fact, we have expressed our interest in investing and expanding in Andhra Pradesh. It’s just a matter of a formal decision, we are there. Amaravati seems an ideal location,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government apparently has already given hints to some corporates to come up with proposals on building an integrated capital infrastructure on the public-private partnership model where the government is expected to stake land as part of its share.
“We are in the process of preparing a preliminary proposal for a world class city. We are even looking at international tie-ups for the initiative,” said the CMD of a major corporate house having interestsin several business segments in the VGTM region.
The region between Krishna and Godavari has a whopping 25,000-acre government land to offer, besides its access to abundant water resources