Singapore presents final master plan of Andhra capital

Hyderabad: The master planning process of Andhra Pradesh’s new capital Amaravati was completed on Monday with the Singaporean government presenting the Seed Capital Area (SCA) master plan to the state government.

A delegation from Singapore led by Second Minister for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran presented the master plan to Chief Minster N. Chandrababu Naidu at Rajahmundry in East Godavari district.

The SCA master plan, the final of the three-stage master plan, covers an an area of 16.9 square km, on the northern portion of the capital city coming up near Vijayawada-Guntur. The seed capital would be developed in five phases.

Amaravati is envisaged to be developed as smart, green and sustainable city.

The six key factors taken into consideration for this master plan were providing jobs and homes, world-class infrastructure, quality living, protecting identity and heritage and, resource management and environment.

Iswaran said the next stage would be implementation. Singapore companies were interested in participating in the development of the capital city. He said the companies would take a decision after assessing the opportunities.

Naidu said the capital city will be a world-class city which will be a symbol of pride for the people of Andhra Pradesh and India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay foundation stone for Amaravati on October 22. Prime ministers of Japan and Singapore have been invited for the ceremony.

Naidu said steps would be taken to complete the first phase of the capital city by 2018.

He thanked Singapore for preparing capital master plan, capital city master plan and seed capital plan.

Stating that the capital city will be developed through Swiss Challenge, he invited Japan and Singapore to participate in building the city.

The SCA is planned for about 3 lakh residents. Being developed as a vibrant business hub, a total of about 7 lakh jobs are expected to be created in various sectors including government jobs.

SCA aspiration is to create a thriving state of the art Central Business District (CBD) for business and living.

The master plan provides nodes and development corridors from transit oriented development approach.

The various zones would comprise of central business district, residential townships, institutions, parks and gardens, water bodies, recreational spaces, water front etc.

It provides a transport hierarchy that comprises of an integrated network of metro rail network of about 12 kms, bus rapid transit of about 15 kms, downtown road of about 7 km, arterial roads and sub-arterial roads of about 26 kms and collector roads of about 53 kms, with varying broad right-of-ways.

The landscape would create world class aesthetic appeal to make city liveable and attractive.

Special emphasis has been laid to enhance development of extensive walkways and pedestrianisation interlinked with open and green spaces with a blue and green network of more than 25 kms to promote walk-to-work environment and non-motorised transport.

The iconic developments will include state-of-the-art government complex, city gateway, cultural centre, convention centre etc.

 

 

–IANS