2 firms agree to price offered by AP for temporary Secretariat

Stalemate over the finalisation of contractor for the construction of an Interim Government Complex (temporary Secretariat) of Andhra Pradesh in the state's new capital region Amaravati has ended today with the two competing firms agreeing to the final price offered by the government.
Construction majors L&T and Shapoorji Pallonji were said to have agreed to a price of Rs 3,350 per sqft offered by the AP government for constructing the Interim Government Complex at Velagapudi village, 16-km from here, and finish the buildings by June 15.
If the two firms complete the construction work by the promised date, major offices of AP government will be shifted to the Amaravati region from Hyderabad, the current common capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Officially, however, there has been no confirmation yet from the Capital Region Development Authority on the finalisation of the contract.
Official sources in the CRDA said the work has been divided into three packages of which two were bagged by L&T and one by Shapoorji.
The temporary Secretariat will come up in a 45-acre area at Velagapudi village with three building blocks (G+1) having an aggregate built-up area of six lakh sft.

Of the total 45 acres, 27 acres has been earmarked for the government buildings and the rest for public facilities.
While state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Cabinet colleagues have been functioning from the temporary offices here, the various government departments continue to work from Hyderabad.

A fresh date for laying of foundation stone for the temporary Secretariat is expected to be fixed tomorrow.