Amaravathi poised to become a world class city: Report

Knight Frank India, a global property consultants, today released a report on the two upcoming State capitals — Amaravathi in Andhra Pradesh and Naya Raipur.

The Report highlights the potential of both the Greenfield capital cities and the ripple effect that these two cities will have on the real estate development in their surrounding areas. Amaravathi’s unique positioning and strategic location and the proposed infrastructure developments will ensure that Amaravathi will become a world class city and influence zone as international consultants are involved in developing the capital city.

 

According to the Report, Amaravathi’s proximity to urban centers like Vijayawada and Guntur will ensure that the broader capital will provide a large talent pool and coupled with necessary infrastructure will provide a good option for companies to move into Andhra Pradesh, which is largely rural in character. The proposed physical infrastructure like metro rail and an international airport in Mangalagiri will boost the attractiveness of Amaravathi in general and the broader capital region in particular. Proposed high speed rail corridor with Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad will improve connectivity to Amaravathi. Apart from road, rail network and BRTS, a special 3km long underwater tunnel in the River Krishna will connect Amaravathi to Vijayawada.

 

Vijayawada and Guntur will be the two major urban centers that will benefit most from Amaravathi coming up in a full-fledged manner as the new State capital. Vijayawada will be promoted as the commercial capital and Guntur as the knowledge hub of the State. Capital values, in emerging micro markets, of Vijayawada are in the range of Rs 1,800-7,000 per sq ft. Some of these micro markets are Vuyyuru, Auto Nagar, Kannuru and Poranki. In the upcoming micro markets of Guntur like Undavalli, Manglagiri and Gorantala capital values are between INR 2,200-4,500 per sq ft.

The office rentals in upmarket localities of Vijayawada are around Rs 60-70 per sq ft in micro markets like Benz Circle, Bandar Road. At the lower end of the spectrum however, rentals are between INR 10-15 per sqft in Patamata, Bhavanipuram and Maruthinagar. Guntur lacks quality office spaces and the average rentals in the office market are pegged between INR 30-50 per sq ft in Brodipet and Arundalpet.and Rs 10-15 per sq ft in Lalpaet and Patnam Bazar.

Apart from the real estate boom, there are huge investment commitments from domestic and international corporates, across industries like retail, energy, education and hospital cum medical institutes that will have a positive impact on Amaravthi’s real estate in particular and that of the capital region in general. A few examples of private sector companies who have expressed their desire to invest in Andhra Pradesh are companies like Suzlon Energy, Walmart, Pepsi, Colgate- Palmolive and Amity University.

Vasudevan Iyer, Director, Hyderabad said, “Amaravathi is uniquely positioned and will be able to attract large scale investment due to astute positioning and its proximity to two major cities of Andhra Pradesh namely Vijayawada and Guntur. Also, the proposed infrastructure will provide the necessary fillip to Amaravathi to become a model state capital of the 21st century.  Hyderabad, which had taken a backseat to some extent before the bifurcation of the state, is set to grow stronger in future as it has the necessary infrastructure, talent pool and conducive business environment to remain attractive for companies, especially in the medium to long term. While Amaravathi will come up as a potential power centre, Hyderabad will continue to enjoy its growth curve”. (NSS)