Kuppam (Andhra Pradesh), Sep 22 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday virtually laid the foundation for several development projects across the state valued at Rs 11,360 crore from here in Chittoor district.
The chief minister laid the foundation for the projects in 123 municipalities across 26 districts, which will be executed under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) for the first time.
“This is a golden chapter in the state’s municipal history. We have started works worth Rs 11,359 crore in urban regions. Including the existing works, we have given proposals for works totalling Rs 50,000 crore,” Naidu said, addressing officials from Kuppam.
The CM laid the foundation for works worth Rs 7,469 crore across the state and Rs 3,890 crore in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC).
Under these projects, roads will be built at a cost of Rs 4,656 crore. Works related to central medians (Rs 88 crore), street lighting (Rs 247 crore) and parks (Rs 509 crore) will also be taken up.
According to the CM, the face of the state will change if the proposed Rs 50,000 crore worth of works are completed. He said works worth Rs 22,330 crore are already underway in the state.
Naidu promised to start some more works valued at Rs 17,000 crore in six months’ time.
Further, the CM promised to complete Township and Infrastructure Development Corporation (TIDCO) houses by 2027 and assured to give housing plots in unobjectionable places to the poor, following the distribution of title deeds to 28,500 families in Visakhapatnam recently.
Observing that urban places are the growth engines in the economy, Naidu called for efforts to intensify weekend economy.
According to the CM, people are spending 61 per cent of their income during the weekends while 71 per cent of people’s income in the cities is being spent on housing and transport.
Hence, the government took up programmes like TIDCO housing and ‘Stree Shakti’, which offers free bus transport for women in select services.
Naidu underscored that major reforms were undertaken for developing cities and building permissions were being issued quickly.
The CM said 143 lakh tonne of waste was cleared across the state and underlined that two waste to energy plants are functioning, which will be supplemented by four more.
By 2047, he said every municipality should be transformed into a “Swarna (golden) municipality.”
Later, Naidu undertook ‘jalaharati’ (ritual) at Handri-Neeva Kuppam Branch Canal to welcome Krishna River amid chants of “‘Handri – Neeva water is a blessing to Kuppam”.
According to the CM, Handri-Neeva scheme brought water to Kuppam from the foothills of Lord Mallikarjuna at Srisailam.
He said 133 minor irrigation tanks have been filled through the Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanthi (HNSS) project to ensure that there was no drinking water shortage.
In 2025, Naidu said 2.4 TMC of water was released into Kuppam, raising groundwater levels by nearly three metres and reviving parched borewells back to life.
Further, the CM laid the foundation stone for the construction of a reservoir at Beeraganipalle and promised to take up the reservoir development works.
Naidu said reservoirs would also be established at Yamiganipalle and Madanapalle region of Chittoor district.
The CM said more than 550 minor irrigation tanks in Kuppam would be interconnected through lift irrigation systems, pipelines and gravity canals.
Later, Naidu interacted with poultry farmers from Kuppam constituency, which he represents in the state Assembly, and informed them that an action plan has been readied to set up environmentally controlled poultry shed to transform them into industrialists.
(PTI News)
