AP scraps Amaravati start up area deal with Singapore

The Andhra Pradesh cabinet that met here on Wednesday has scrapped the Amaravati start-up Area Development Project with the Singapore Consortium.

The pact between the then Nara Chandrababu Naidu government and the consortium remained a non-starter even after 30 months after the pact was inked, raising doubts about the future of the deal. After the change of guard in the state, it was believed that the government would eventually scrap the deal.

According to the Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkata Ramaiah (Nani), the Amaravati Start-Up Area Development Project was undertaken under the Public-Private Partnership mode and selected the Singapore consortium of Ascendas-Singbridge and Sembcorp Development through the controversial Swiss Challenge method as the Master Developer. The Naidu government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore consortium on 15 May 2017 for executing the project in a 6.84 sq km area (1,691 acres) in three phases over 15 years.

As per the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA)-AP, the start-up area, once developed, was expected to contribute 1.15 lakh crore to the state's gross domestic product and generate revenue of Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore to the government in different taxes.

Irregularities galore: Minister

Meanwhile, the Municipal Administration Minister Botsa Satyanarayana said that the government is keen on bringing out irregularities in the construction of the capital city during Naidu’s tenure.

He lashed out at Chandrababu Naidu on the capital city issue and questioned whether the previous Government has paid Rs 10,000 for square feet in the construction of interim secretariat or not. He said that Chandrababu has selected a jungle for building a capital city.

"TDP leaders are still trying to impersonate people despite being rejected by them", he said adding that majority of people are happy with Jagamohan Reddy’s government. He also refuted allegations that he has been raking up caste issues while opposing setting up of capital in present location. “TDP says hat I was referring to a particular caste . Nine out of ten people are from the same social group and is it wrong to raise that point?’ he added.