Andhra Pradesh three capital plan: Step in right direction

The Andhra Pradesh assembly in Jan’2020 approved a proposal to set up three state capitals—in Visakhapatnam, Kurnool, and Amaravati. Visakhapatnam will be the state’s executive capital, home to its Raj Bhavan and Secretariat, and Kurnool will be its judicial capital, while Amaravati will have its legislative assembly. The move reduces the pre-eminence of Amaravati, envisaged as the sole state capital by the state’s previous government led by the Telugu Desam Party’s N. Chandrababu Naidu.

As Andhra Pradesh gets ready for three capitals, the problem staring at the government is the state’s weak financials. The finances of Andhra Pradesh government are in a bad shape and need urgent attention. The new government was burdened with Rs 65,000 crore worth of pending bills soon after it took charge in May last year, a senior government official said.

The state needs funds, up to Rs 40,000 annually, to spend on welfare schemes it has promised. But, the burden of debt is too huge. Total debt inherited by the current government amounts to Rs 2.8 lakh crore, according to the official. Factor in interest and another Rs 30,000 crore gets added, taking the total debt to around Rs 3.1 lakh crore, the official claimed. Given the limitations in raising funds, the state government has no option but to cut expenses and explore innovative models to finance projects.

In fact, the government is mulling annuity-mode investment model where the party building the project (an infrastructure project or a hospital) makes all the investment and gives the government a long-term repayment schedule. This means that after a moratorium period of (say) a couple of years, the government can make annual payments of around Rs 4,000 crore or 5,000 crore, depending on the cost of the project, much like how individuals do in an EMI.

Pros:

Three capitals is a good idea if the government solve Amaravati farmer’s issues as soon as possible.
Three regions ( Uttarandhra, Rayalaseema, and rest of coastal Andhra) can develop equally and there will be no scope of separate state agitation in future.
It is easy to create the necessary infrastructure in Vizag as it already developed city.
Also the previous government constructed new building in Amaravati and those building are sufficient for Agricultural trading hub, textiles and agro-processing. Assembly anyway is there already.
Kurnool city was the formal capital of Andhra after the bifurcation of Madras state. It’s an honour to Rayalaseema if Kurnool became judiciary capital.
Coming to information and technology, Vizag is the land of many software companies and it can compete with IT cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune in future.
There are many tourists space near Vizag.
Vizag has chances to develop as “Sports Hub”. It has international sport stadiums with all facilities and every year matches count is almost equal to Hyderabad. It has pleasant climatic condition where international athletes can also adjust.
Vizag is the oldest shipyard and second largest seaport in India. It handles commercial shipping activities and large volume of cargo traffic.

Cons:

Amaravati farmers land issue.
Travel time is more as Vizag located in North Andhra (Chennai and Mumbai are also located corner in their states. Now days there is no need of travel to the capital city always, many task are digitalized even in governance)
There is a chance of tsunami and floods in Vizag.
Although Kurnool acts as a legislative capital, high court benches should be there in all capitals.