Row over contract to S'pore consortium to develop startup area

The Andhra Pradesh government has come under fresh attack from the opposition over the award of a contract to a Singapore consortium for developing a 6.84 sq km "start-up area " in the proposed capital city here.

Opposition parties are alleging that the joint venture Singapore Amaravati Investment Holdings Ltd, set up to execute the project under the public private partnership mode, had been given land at a "throwaway price" while the company was selling the developed property at Rs 4 crore per acre.

The state government will spend a whooping Rs 2,118 crore for creating basic infrastructure like roads, water supply, drainage and electricity, they said.

In fact, this award is linked to the Swiss Challenge method adopted by the Chandrababu Naidu government to select the master developer, which many allege to be a quid pro quo deal with the Singapore players who designed the overall master plan for Amaravati.

The state government claimed it was the Singapore government that did the Amaravati master plan "free of cost," with the Chief Minister himself boasting that it was a "goodwill gesture seeing my credibility."