Will make Amaravati among top 5 livable cities: Chandrababu Naidu

Amaravati: Detailing his vision for the development of Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said his government would transform the Greenfield capital coming up on the outskirts of Vijayawada into one of the top five livable cities in the world.

Inaugurating three-day Happy Cities Summit Amaravati 2019 here, the Chief Minister said his government would leave no stone unturned to make the Greenfield capital one of the best global cities.

He invited innovative ideas for the wholesome development of the new capital. “Sometimes, you may have ideas, but can’t implement them. We are ready to allow people to test their ideas in Amaravati. We are always proactive on that front and ready to implement effective ideas,” he said.

Recounting how he developed Brownfield city Cyberabad, planned Shamshabad airport and conceptualized 163-km outer ring road in Hyderabad around 20 years ago, he said: “we created knowledge economy in Hyderabad”.

Pointing out that residual Andhra Pradesh was in crisis post the bifurcation, he said he saw an opportunity in the crisis and that was how Amaravati took shape. “In Indian mythology, Amaravati means heaven where all angels live. Therefore, this new city will be a best place for people to live.

If anyone wants to have longer life, he or she will have to come and live here as Amaravati is planned as pollution-free and carbon neutral city,” he explained.

Naidu said he had recently given a mantra called VIADUCT for his people. “V stands for vision, I for innovation, A for accountability, D for digitalization, U for uberisation, C for consumption and T for technology. If we do all these with persistence, we can bring transformation and thus do wonders,” he explained.

Earlier speaking, Dr P Narayana, Minister for Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Andhra Pradesh, said that Amaravati would be the happiest city from the day one. “We are implementing 5-10-15 minutes concept which means 5 minutes for emergency, 10 minutes for greenery and 15 minutes for walk to work. And there will be no traffic jams in Amaravati,” he said. He lauded generosity of 27,500 farmers for offering 33,500 acres of land in land pooling initiative for the new capital city.

Over 1,500 delegates are taking part in the second edition of the Happy Cities Summit Amaravati being organised by Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) in association with CII. Several overseas delegates from the US, UK, Singapore, Bhutan, Ghana, Sri Lanka and other countries are participating in the three-day event.