Ministers, Officials Stunned as CRDA Building Costs Soar

Even in Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati or anywhere else in the country, with an expenditure of ₹160 crores, one can build a magnificent building. That too, fully furnished with grandeur. This amount, excluding land costs and considering only construction expenses, is enough to build a building of the highest range. Engineers say that with this cost, even seven-star facilities can be provided. But in Andhra Pradesh, the coalition government led by Chandrababu Naidu is spending this huge amount merely for superficial embellishments. And that too on a building where more than half of the construction had already been completed long ago. Witnessing this, even some ministers in his cabinet and IAS officers have expressed astonishment. A senior minister even remarked that corruption is being deeply rooted in the very building of APCRDA (Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority), which is supposed to oversee the new capital’s works. Since all CRDA monitoring is happening directly under the supervision of Chief Minister Chandrababu and Minister Narayana, officials say there is no chance this could have happened without their knowledge.

One minister revealed that in many cases this very model is being followed — that no matter how much corruption or how many irregularities occur, once they are presented in the cabinet and approved, there will be no trouble in the future. The farmers of Amaravati, who gave their lands for the capital, along with the people of Andhra Pradesh, are eagerly waiting to see when the capital will be completed. But critics allege that those in power are only preoccupied with how much and in what ways they can profit in the name of Amaravati. Serious allegations are being made that from iconic key buildings of Amaravati to land pooling scheme layouts and tenders worth thousands of crores for road development, all works are being handed over exclusively to their own companies.

In the capital region of Amaravati, the APCRDA constructed a new building across 3.62 acres, spanning a total area of 2.42 lakh square feet. During Chandrababu’s first term as Chief Minister, tenders were invited with an estimated expenditure of around ₹82 crores for this building’s construction works. Even at that time, works had begun and more than half of the CRDA building’s works had already been completed. After Chandrababu’s coalition government came back to power in Andhra Pradesh for the second time, these building works gained momentum. What is strange here is that after starting construction with an estimated cost of ₹82 crores, an additional allocation of a whopping ₹160 crores has been approved for extra grandeur and other facilities. In a recent cabinet meeting, this decision was taken, and now a government order (GO) has been issued releasing these allocations. This has surprised not only CRDA officials but also engineers. The Municipal Department issued GO No. 868 allocating ₹160 crores for architectural works, mechanical, electrical, plumbing works, information technology works, and even external development works around the APCRDA office. After this GO was released, many are commenting that this is the peak of corruption.