Amaravati may not become Andhra Pradesh's new capital, Botsa Satyanarayana, Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development, hinted today, pointing to the fact that large sections of the region were left flooded by heavy rain. "The Sivaramakrishna Committee pointed out that Amaravati is not a safe place for capital city. Many areas in the capital region are flood-prone, as you have been seeing," the minister said in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
The minister also highlighted the rising costs of construction - a subject that has provoked furious debates between the ruling YSR Congress Party of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who visualised the entire project.
"People's money has been misused by the previous TDP government. The expenditure on the construction process in Amaravati is more when it is compared to other regions. If you have to invest one lakh rupees elsewhere, here you have to spend two lakh rupees. We will review and take a decision," the minister added.
Mr Satyanarayana's comments come a month after China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the World Bank dropped proposed loans worth $700 million.
The World Bank had reportedly sought permission to conduct an independent investigation into complaints of irregularities like forced land acquisition. Concerns had also been raised over sanctioning of buildings on the floodplains of the Krishna River.