Review on Amaravati project held by Chief Minister

Chief Minister Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu today held a review on the progress of the Amaravati project. While giving details about his successful US trip, the Chief Minister said that a major breakthrough was achieved in the solar power sector. He said, “India is blessed with abundant sunshine throughout its varied masses. However we haven’t still recognized the full potential of the solar power”. He added that there is an urgent need to take up studies in advance solar energy storage technologies which would ultimately pull down prices of solar power. “If solar energy is available for less than Rs 2, it’s a major breakthrough for India,” the Chief Minister said. India will become a manufacturing hub for the world if we achieve a breakthrough in storage of solar power, he added.

The Chief Minister held detailed discussion on advance power storage technologies. It was suggested that Mr.Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras be contacted who is using solar-DC innovation, to decentralised solar power by 2030 in India and his aim is see that India gets 50% of its peak power from solar.

The Chief Minister is keen on holding an international conference with major energy storage chain players who can provide game changing innovative solutions for solar storage.  

He said that the Energy University in Ananatapur will start operating from this year and the university will offer specialized courses in power technologies.

CRDA commissioner Shri. Sreedhar Cherukuri informed the Chief Minister about the outcomes of the master plan workshop held in London from 12^th to 16^th of this month. He said that the master plan was duly modified as per the comments and suggestions given by the Chief Minister and others in the earlier meetings held with fosters and partners. The commissioner mentioned that 90% of the master plans details are completed and that the model will be presented on the 22^nd of this month by Mr. Chris Bubb of Foster and Partners. After the presentation on 22^nd, further comments and suggestions would be sought and the final master plan will be submitted said the commissioner.

During the London meeting, the officials held discussions on the positioning of assembly building, transportation strategy and water system. The officials informed the Chief Minister that the secretariat building and the heads of the department buildings were pushed to the further north so as to create a lot of space and gateways to the assembly building. The assembly building will now occupy 160 acres the officials said.

“Since we decided that the assembly buildings will be an iconic structure with lot of green and blue, secretariat and heads of the Department buildings were moved towards the north,” mentioned the commissioner.

With regard to the secretariat, it was decided to construct a minimum of 8 to 10 floors to accommodate 26,000 secretariat staff in a total 5 lakh sft.

The Chief Minister said that the secretariat building should be elegant and functional while having mixed spaces of green and blue.

While going through the transportation plan presented by Foster and partners, the Chief Minister said that the world is experimenting innovative transportation technologies and asked them to make a transportation plan to suit the present as well as the future needs of the State.

The officials informed the Chief Minister that unmanned electrical buses will run from the city center to the Secretariat building with stops at specified nodes. Walking distance from node to node is 5 minutes the officials said.

The Chief Minister said that a single-use ticket system should be available in either bus, metro, inland transportation for the citizens who travel in the capital city.

The delegation that went on a workshop to London visited Cambridge and studied the cannel system and details of their studies were presented to the Chief Minister.

The officials briefed the Chief Minister about the Amaravati portal which would be launched very soon. The portal will serve as a holistic project management, documentation and monitoring platform for the Amaravati project.