Andhra CM Naidu to visit London on October 24-25 to finalise designs for government complexes

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu will be visiting London on October 24 and 25, to finalise designs for government complexes.

The Chief Minister will be visiting London for an exclusive meeting with Foster & Partners, to finalise the designs.

Prior to that, S. S. Rajamouli and other officers will be visiting London for a workshop on Urban Design and Planning.

Chief Minster Naidu, meanwhile, reviewed the progress of projects being governed by the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) on Wednesday, in the Secretariat.

Chief Minister Naidu announced a massive event to promote boat racing, scheduled to be organised in November 2019 called "P1 Power Boat Grand Prix".

The world championship series is usually conducted at the Marine Drive in Mumbai for which the organisers have approached the AP government, with Maruti Nexa sponsoring the event, seeking an association. The entire event takes place across 10 days, and boat races are conducted for three days.

About eleven out of 25 top ranked schools and thirteen unranked schools have sent their applications to the authorities, and said that they would commence operations from next year in Andhra Pradesh.

The Scottish High International School, the Chinmaya Mission, the Candor International School, The Heritage School, the Sadbhavana World School, the Ryan Global School, the Podar School, the Glendale Academy, the Delhi Public School, the GIIS, and the DAV group of schools are the eleven top ranked schools.

The Jubilee Public School, the Jesus Mary Joseph School, the Sri Saraswati Vidya Peetham, the Loyola Public School and the Siddhartha Academy of General and Technical Education are among the thirteen unranked schools that have sent their applications through suo moto.

Chief Minister Naidu had asked the officials to continue to aim for the top five institutes in the world to establish their schools in Amaravati.

"We must not compromise on the standards of education. We need the best infrastructure with curriculum of international standard, and faculty who are well-trained," Chief Minister Naidu said.

The Dhirubhai Ambani International School and the Aditya Birla World Academy are among the schools that have been sent invitations by the Chief Minister.

Two Kendriya Vidyalayas have been approved for establishing their schools in five acres each.

With that, Chief Minister Naidu has also announced that a craft bazaar called Krishna Kamalam will be set up in Sakamuru Regional Park.

"The area will be dedicated to the sale of locally-made handicrafts, and will be spread across 4 or 5 acres," he said.

Chief Minister Naidu also reviewed the Housing and Urban greenery projects in the cities, one of which was the Soundarya Mala, to beautify the highways of Visakhapatnam

The Andhra Pradesh Township and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APTIDCO) discussed the status of the different housing projects in the state, under the three companies - the NCC, the L&T and the Shapoorji Pallonji.

The L&T officials presented their projects in West Godavari District, under the PMAY-NTR Nagar scheme, and have identified their plots in Bhimavaram, Tadepalligudem and Palakol. The total number of housing units in their projects are 73,93,120.

The Master layouts, foundation drawings, internal electrical and plumbing works have all been approved and work on site has made significant progress.

The sites are open to public, and there are few beneficiaries of the housing scheme who have visited the site.

The Chief Minister has instructed the construction companies to maintain registries, to record the turnout of beneficiaries.

An official from the Shapoorji Pallonji presented the progress of their projects in Kurnool and Guntur. There will be 25,305 units in Kurnool in Nandyal (10,000), Adoni (2,041), Yemmiganur (3,264) and Kurnool (10,000). In Guntur, there will be 15,302 units in Guntur (6,630), Chilakaluripet (4,512), Ponnur (2,368), Tenali (1,152) and Satenapalli (640).

The National Cadet Corps (NCC) submitted that under the PMAY-NTR Nagar Scheme, they have projects in East Godavari and Nellore districts, and submitted the detailed status report.

Chief Minister Naidu instructed all three companies to make weekly milestones, and report the status once a fortnight on a teleconference.

"From the plinth stage, to the handover of the houses to beneficiaries, each phase must be well defined and executed with efficiency", he said, promising to monitor the reports.

The officials of the Andhra Pradesh Urban Greening and Beautification Corporation (APUGBC) met Chief Minister Naidu, and presented the status report of all projects for beautifying the urban landscape.

Out of 650 designing projects across the state, 156 (24 per cent) have been completed. 15 per cent are in the tender stage, 10 per cent have not begun, 27 per cent are in progress and 24 per cent are not yet taken up.

The 650 projects include parks, water-fronts, road medians, plantations, temples, universities, hospitals and national highways.

The Chief Minister has suggested a project for beautifying the landscapes of the highways in Amaravati and Visakhapatnam.

"In Visakhapatnam, call it Soundarya Mala, and in Amaravati, call It Baudhha Mala. In these two projects, the main highways must be the focus, and ensure that they reflect a colourful landscape of the cities", he asserted.

The officials submitted a list of 7 temples, for the commencement of landscape design projects, at an estimated total cost of Rs. 71.7 crore. The Chief Minister asked them to include at least 25 temples in the mission.

Landscaping in 12 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) will be taken up, at an estimated total cost of Rs. 123.09 crore. The central medians allocated to ULBs stretch across 181.09 km, include civil works and soft-scaping. The project costs Rs. 49.03 crore, and the target date of completion is October 31, 2017.

The target for tree plantation in the 2017-18 planting season is 25.18 lakh plants. 33 per cent have been planted, and the target of completion is by the end of October 2017. Tree pruning will also be taken up to shape and design the green landscape and avoid hacking of trees under overhanging power lines.

About 187 trees at the Benz circle flyover are being transplanted, with the help of manual and machinery support by a tree bank. The tree inventory is also being updated with the help of drone surveys.

A four week Gardener Training Course for the unemployed youth of CRDA, including 26 subjects like lawns, bonsai, nursery, vertical gardens, roof gardens and pest management will be done.

Chief Minister Naidu directed the officials to involve the top institutions in Planning, and get expertise to train larger number of people.

Twelve hospitals have been selected for plantation and beautification at a cost of Rs. 3.2 crore, with 10,215 plants. Three universities (Sri Adikavi Nannayya University, Rajahmundry, Sri Dravidian University, Kuppam and Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur) have been selected, for planting 10,500 plants at a cost of Rs. 1.2 crore.

The department will also take up the development of 100 parks, at a cost of Rs. 114 crore. Colony parks will be maintained, and citizens of the colony will be encouraged to take responsibility for the maintenance.

The "Andhra Pradesh Green Awards", will be recognising efforts to improve the green cover of the state from this year onwards. The Chief Minister said that individuals as well as organisations who are working towards this purpose must be included in the categories.