Naidu Says Andhra capital will be ready by 2019

Hyderabad: The foundation of the new capital of Andhra Pradesh between Vijaywada and Guntur will be laid next year and its first phase with the government buildings and social infrastructure will be ready by 2019, said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu Friday.

He told reporters here that the 80 to 90 percent of the people were supporting land pooling system for building the state capital, while only some people instigated by few political leaders were opposing it.

Naidu, who will be completing six months in office on Dec 8, is confident that his government will be able to persuade those unwilling to part with their lands.

Stating that he will develop the state as "Gateway of India to the South East Asia" and a logistics hub, he said water, electricity, land, leadership and policy were the attractions the new state of Andhra Pradesh has to offer to the industry.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief is confident that with the available resources and help from the National Democratic Alliance central government, in which his party is a partner, he would be able to make the state one among the top three developed states in the country by 2022 and the number one state by 2029.

"Very soon the GDP growth of the country will be in double digit and in case of Andhra Pradesh it will be higher than this."

Naidu said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to build a world-class capital and exuded confidence that the central government will fulfill its promise of special category status to the state. He believes the delay in this regard may be due to financial problems faced by the central government.

Naidu is keen to concentrate on the protection of natural and mineral wealth including red sanders and sand and use them properly to raise new resources.

He pointed out that the state earned Rs.950 to Rs.1,000 crore from the auction of 4,000 metric tonnes of red sanders seized from the smugglers. "The state has red sanders forest on an area of half a million acres and we will auction them every year," he said.

Naidu denied that he is interested in quarreling with Telangana. Without naming his Telangana counterpart Chandrasekhar Rao, he targeted him for creating problems every day.

Claiming that he is a well-wisher of Telangana as his party has a strong presence in the state, Naidu denied that he is depriving it of its share in the electricity.

He indicated that his government will continue to work out of Hyderabad even after the new capital was built. "We are entitled to stay here for ten years," he said.

The chief minister said he was a "well wisher" of Hyderabad city and wants it to further grow and prosper. He rubbished the allegations by leaders of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) that he is trying to harm the city's interests.

"A creator cannot be a destroyer", he remarked while claiming credit for the city's development when he was the chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh between 1994 and 2004.

Naidu also asserted that he will develop Visakhapatnam, Vijaywada and the proposed capital even better than Hyderabad.