Slow Progress Clouds Amaravati’s Capital Dream!

If the works currently underway in Amaravati continue at this same pace, there is a growing discussion that it is doubtful whether the capital will take a proper shape by the time of the next elections. This is because, taken together, works worth nearly ₹60,000 crore have already been awarded in Amaravati. At present, only the works that were pending from the first term are being completed at a slightly faster pace. Along with these, some road works are progressing relatively faster. However, officials say that the works on the most crucial buildings are still moving at a very slow pace. Many TDP leaders are also of the same opinion. Another key point here is that if works worth as much as ₹60,000 crore have to be completed within just three years, the current speed is nowhere near sufficient.

In short, many are saying that works in Amaravati should now be progressing in a kind of war-like mode, but at present, that situation does not exist at all. Criticism is being heard that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is handling the Amaravati issue differently this time compared to the past. Apart from convening CRDA meetings when required to approve contracts and then getting them ratified in the Cabinet, the view among TDP leaders is that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is not focusing much on how the works in the capital are actually progressing. It is being discussed in political and official circles that instead of focusing on completing the works already taken up, there has been an increased tendency to constantly chase new works and new projects, and that this will cause more losses than gains in the coming days.

Party leaders are expressing concern that if the Amaravati issue is completely left to Narayana, it is certain to sink deeply. In the first term, special focus was placed on Amaravati along with the Polavaram project, and weekly reviews were conducted. Now, it is being said that since conducting daily reviews of the Polavaram project has not yielded much benefit, Chandrababu has set it aside, and that having already awarded contracts in Amaravati, he is leaving it with the confidence that it will not go off track, while shifting his focus to other issues, according to the analysis of a senior minister. Another important point here is that after Amaravati was decided as the capital, criticisms were heard even then—from ruling TDP MLAs and ministers themselves—that from the designs to the facilities of the temporary Secretariat and temporary Assembly buildings constructed at Velagapudi, the shortcomings and amenities were terrible. Leakages in these Secretariat buildings, constructed by major companies, had at that time caused significant embarrassment to the government. There were also widespread criticisms then that the lobbies of the newly constructed temporary Assembly were extremely narrow. Officials are now commenting that if there is no dedicated system to pay special attention to the iconic buildings and other constructions being built now, similar criticisms will have to be faced later as well. However, the opinion held by many is that the government leadership is focusing more on whom to give contracts to and whom to assign works to, rather than focusing on the works themselves.