AMARAVATI: The state government has decided to resume long pending works in Amaravati.
The decision came a little after the Andhra Pradesh high court verdict on the capital city. Although ministers have been reiterating that they are firm to go with the three-capital cities proposal, the government decided to complete a few works which could be required to continue Amaravati as a legislative capital city.
The state government has reportedly directed the CRDA to complete the pending works on IAS and MLA quarters as they could be readied with about Rs 100 crore. The banks consortium has already agreed to grant loan of Rs 200 crore to complete the pending works in Amaravati and reported to have released the first spell of Rs 95 crore.
The CRDA is expecting another spell of Rs 105 crore in the next few days.
Sources said that the CRDA officials decided to complete the first phase of pending works in next eight months and later take up the remaining works.
CRDA to clear bills before work starts
"We have never said that we are dumping Amaravati. We are for its development. We will take up all the works to the extent required," said municipal administration and urban development minister Botcha Satyanarayana.
He said that Amaravati had always been on their overall development agenda along with the development of all the three regions. He said that they would implement the CRDA Act and take up the works without going for an artificial development.
Sources said that the CRDA had already approached the contractor of the MLA and IAS officers' quarters with a request to revive the works immediately. According to sources, CRDA has agreed to clear pending bills before the launch of the works. CRDA is estimated that the final leg of works in IAS officers' quarters and MLA quarters would be completed with the funds available after clearing the pending bills.
However, CRDA is scouting for bigger loan to take up the other works including the quarters proposed for secretariat employees. The works on the employees' quarters were completed only to around 50 percent and required at least Rs.300 crore to complete the balance works.
The state government recently launched construction of additional building blocks for the high court at a cost of around Rs 40 crore.
