4 projects get nod to make Tirupati smart city

​Tirupati: Andhra Pradesh government has given formal approval to the Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) to commence four major smart city development projects a day ago to beat the general election notification deadline. In the backdrop of ensuing general elections, Tirupati civic body officials were on tenterhooks, whether the government approves the smart city project work or not. However, Municipal Administration principal secretary approved all the smart city projects in one go.

Tirupati was selected as smart city along with Visakhapatnam and Kakinada by the Government of India four years ago. Under the smart city projects, the previous commissioners of municipal corporation prepared over 30 projects under the smart city programme costing Rs 1,733 crore.

At present District Collector PS Pradyumna and Commissioner V Vijaya Rama Raju consolidated all the projects to put on fast-track of implementation. In continuation to the efforts of the previous officials, the Collector and Commissioner planned the iconic project of Tirupati – a 5-km elevated corridor from Market Yard to Tirupati Kapila Theertham Nandi Circle at cost of Rs 684 crore.

All the hurdles are cleared now for the elevated corridor roll on. As per the official’s intention, permission for this mega project has to get the approval before the notification of general elections. The civic body will find it difficult to ground the project if it fails to get the nod before the poll notification. However, this threat is over now that the projects have been approved. Most probably iconic project of Tirupati elevated corridor works to be started by AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu by the end of February. 

The elevated corridor project was conceived to over land acquisition issues. The corridor is being planned over the existing 4-lane road of TTD, which goes from Tiruhanuru to Tirumala. The MCT has planned a Rs 24-crore solar park on 20 acres on the outskirts of Tirupati for which the government has given its nod. 

The park, which would generate 6-mega watt power, has been allotted to a Mumbai-based infra company. The MCT is planning a ‘City Operation Centre’ with state-of-the-art devices, including CCTV cameras and monitoring centre. Over 2000 CCTV cameras will help the city administration to provide effective services and maintain law and order. The MCT has allocated over Rs 288 crore under the smart city funds. 

Work order of this project was also issued by the state government. Similarly, the robotic multi-level car parking was given got approval by the AP government. With the help of a consultancy agency, the MCT has designed the Rs 14.5-crore parking facility, which caters to the parking needs at the busiest road Annamaiah Air Bypass road.