AP to ask Centre for Rs 11,000 crore for works at new capital

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant Rs 11,000 crore for construction of government offices and residential complexes in the state's new capital Amaravati.

The Prime Minister finally granted an appointment to the CM after a gap of 10 months and their meeting is scheduled to take place around 11 am in New Delhi tomorrow, a senior official said.

Naidu held a meeting with senior bureaucrats tonight in which it was decided to seek Central financial assistance to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore for developing essential infrastructure in the new capital, the official said.
 

The AP Capital Region Development Authority has estimated that Rs 6,705 crore would be required to build a permanent Secretariat, High Court and Legislature complex, another Rs 2163 crore would be required for constructing residential towers for legislators, bureaucrats and other junior officers and Rs 760 crore for bungalows for ministers.

Officials said that the Centre had already granted Rs 1,500 crore for the construction of the High Court, Legislature, Secretariat and some other government buildings.

The state government has submitted utilisation certificates for a sum of Rs 1,583 crore claiming to have spent the money for the "specified purpose" though no such structures, barring the Interim Government Complex, were built.

In this backdrop, the Chief Minister is set to place a fresh demand for funds, the official pointed out.

Naidu is also expected to discuss other issues related to the implementation of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 with Modi.

It wants the Centre to fund Rs 16,725 crore through NABARD for six major projects in the ratio of 90:10 between the Centre and the state.

Chandrababu had written a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in this regard, officials said.

Other issues like delimitation of Assembly constituencies to increase the number of seats in the AP Assembly from 175 to 225, bridging the revenue deficit caused by the state's bifurcation, division of assets listed under Schedules IX and X of the AP Reorganisation Act among others are also expected to be taken up with the Prime Minister, official sources said.