02-02-2023, 09:33 AM
Rohini Mohan
India Correspondent
UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
BENGALURU - The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has chosen the coastal city of Visakhapatnam to be its new capital, effectively shelving the development of Amaravati, a city that was to be built from scratch by Singapore developers.
......
Amaravati has been at the centre of political wrangling in the southern state for nine years.
Singapore had been involved in the Amaravati project since 2014, when Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and lost its erstwhile capital city Hyderabad to the newly created state of Telangana.
A new city was planned on the banks of the river Krishna, starting with the construction of a 684ha start-up area on the site of what was originally villages and farmland.
In 2017, the Singapore Amaravati Investment Holdings consortium was announced as the master developers for the waterfront financial centre in Amaravati. The city was conceived to eventually be 10 times the size of Singapore.
Amaravati had the backing of the state’s former chief minister, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, who had promised to model the city after Singapore and inked two memorandums of understanding with the consortium backed by Singapore.
......
However, Mr Naidu lost the state elections in April 2019 to his rival Mr Reddy, from the YSR Congress party which had long been critical of the capital project.
Shortly thereafter, in November 2019, the Reddy government and the Singapore consortium mutually consented to cancel their agreement to develop Amaravati.
At that time, the new capital was barely off the ground, largely due to changes in the masterplan because of ecological concerns and the World Bank’s withdrawal in 2018 of a promised loan of US$300 million (S$408 million), following farmers’ complaints about police intimidation by the previous government.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-...maravati-0
India Correspondent
UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
BENGALURU - The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has chosen the coastal city of Visakhapatnam to be its new capital, effectively shelving the development of Amaravati, a city that was to be built from scratch by Singapore developers.
......
Amaravati has been at the centre of political wrangling in the southern state for nine years.
Singapore had been involved in the Amaravati project since 2014, when Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and lost its erstwhile capital city Hyderabad to the newly created state of Telangana.
A new city was planned on the banks of the river Krishna, starting with the construction of a 684ha start-up area on the site of what was originally villages and farmland.
In 2017, the Singapore Amaravati Investment Holdings consortium was announced as the master developers for the waterfront financial centre in Amaravati. The city was conceived to eventually be 10 times the size of Singapore.
Amaravati had the backing of the state’s former chief minister, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, who had promised to model the city after Singapore and inked two memorandums of understanding with the consortium backed by Singapore.
......
However, Mr Naidu lost the state elections in April 2019 to his rival Mr Reddy, from the YSR Congress party which had long been critical of the capital project.
Shortly thereafter, in November 2019, the Reddy government and the Singapore consortium mutually consented to cancel their agreement to develop Amaravati.
At that time, the new capital was barely off the ground, largely due to changes in the masterplan because of ecological concerns and the World Bank’s withdrawal in 2018 of a promised loan of US$300 million (S$408 million), following farmers’ complaints about police intimidation by the previous government.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-...maravati-0