The CRDA meeting presided over by Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, focussed on the construction of roads in Amaravati.

Briefing media persons after the meeting, the Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) P. Narayana said of the total amount, Rs 3,807 crore is allotted for the construction of roads in the areas in which land was acquired under the land pooling scheme.

Trunk roads will be laid at a cost of Rs 4521 crore while Rs 492 crore has been allocated for the construction of bungalows for the Ministers and the High Court judges, Narayana explained.

The CRDA at its previous meetings approved works worth Rs 11,471 crore. He said with Tuesday’s meeting, total works worth Rs 20,292.46 crore have now been cleared.

Layouts for an extent of 236 km covering villages like Nelapadu, Rayapudi, Ananthavaram and Dondapadu have been cleared while trunk roads for 97.5 km have been approved, the Minister said.

Pointing out that tenders have been called for works worth Rs 41,000 crore between 2014 to 2019, he said works worth Rs 5,000 crore were completed. Narayana felt that had the works been completed between 2019 and 2024, the construction cost would not have gone up. Due to this delay in continuing the works, the cost has gone up from 25 per cent to 28 per cent, he added.

The construction cost of buildings has increased from 35 per cent to 55 per cent, Narayana said, adding that had Amaravati been continued as the capital the cost of these works would not have gone up by 45 per cent. The MAUD Minister made it clear that the process of calling for tenders for these works will begin by December 15 and will be completed by the end of this month.

Since cases have been filed against the designers from Singapore, the permission of the Chief Minister is needed to invite them again, Narayana added.

Courtesy Media Group: IANS