In a high-level meeting Tuesday with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the members of the state-level advisory committee discussed the issue of a potential capital for Andhra Pradesh. During the meeting, a delegation from McKinsey gave a presentation titled “Vision for AP Capital”. The members of the advisory committee, headed by Minister for Municipal Administration P Narayana, including Srini Raju, G V Sanjay Reddy, Mandava Prabhakar Rao, S Bommidala and others were present. The CM has asked the committee to scout for an ad hoc capital that will house key administrative offices until all the infrastructure and other projects are completed in the capital city. The CM said the new capital should be unique, slum-free and emerge as a tourist destination. Naidu added that there should be an equal distribution of social infrastructure facilities like schools and hospitals. The members have also been asked to study land distribution for government, residential, commercial and cultural purposes. The committee has been asked to study Indian cities like Chandigarh, New Raipur, Navi Mumbai and Gandhinagar. They have also been asked to take cues from global cities like Brasilia, Singapore, Putrajaya (in Malaysia). Meanwhile, Vizag, or Visakhapatnam, will be developed at a par with Hyderabad while the Vijayawada-Guntur stretch will most likely be the new capital zone of Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who toured Vizag said it will be developed into an IT hub, besides focusing on developing facilities for Telugu, Odiya and Bengali film industry, and aggressively promote tourism. Vizag will be one of the six cities in rest of AP which will be developed as hi-tech cities. Sources said that media baron Ramoji Rao will be allotted 500 acres land to develop a new film city while actor-turned-politician K Chiranjeevi will build a mega film city with several partners.
