Hudco to give Rs 7,500 crore loan to Andhra to develop Amaravati

M Venkaiah Naidu said, the Centre would consider a proposal by the Andhra Pradesh government to develop Amaravati as a smart city. The Centre has already sanctioned Rs 100 crore to each smart city as seed money.

Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) will provide a loan of Rs 7,500 crore to the Andhra Pradesh government to support the development of the proposed capital Amaravati. A memorandum of understanding on the same was signed on Monday.

Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Jayant Sinha along with Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the second day of the CII-Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam on Monday.(PTI)

M Venkaiah Naidu, minister of urban development, housing and urban poverty alleviation, said that the Centre would consider a proposal by the state government to develop Amaravati as a smart city. The Centre has already sanctioned Rs 100 crore to each smart city as seed money.

“We will encourage and provide full support to the state,” Naidu said at the CII Partnership summit, organised by the commerce ministry and the industry chamber. The minister added that a proposal for construction of metro rail network in Visakhapatnam will also be considered.

Till the end of the second day the state had garnered investment pledges to the tune of Rs 2 lakh crore. “We expect about Rs 4 lakh crore worth of investments in the state by the end of tomorrow (last day of the meet),” said Parakala Prabhakar, communications adviser to the state.

Minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha, who was also present on the occasion, underlined the need for smart urbanisation and said that Andhra, much like California, would be the economic engine for India. He also said that pro-poor policies have to go hand in hand with pro-market pro-industry policies.