Andhra mulls pooling 30,000 more acres for Amaravati; no decision yet: Minister

Amaravati In order to create a "mega city" with its own international airport, the Andhra Pradesh government is thinking of purchasing an extra 30,000 acres of land in Amaravati using the land pooling approach, Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana announced on Tuesday. Though Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is eager to create a megacity by combining the nearby regions of Mangalagiri, Tadepalli, Guntur, and Vijayawada, he underlined that no decision has been made as of yet.

"A decision about further land pooling in Amaravati has not yet been made. CM Chandrababu, however, has made the decision to construct an international airport on more than 5,000 acres. This requires land," Narayana stated in a formal press statement.

The Minister pointed out that in order to build the airport, the government requires land. Local MLAs, however, told him that farmers would suffer if land was purchased using the "acquisition" method. He stated that plans are underway to build an international airport to serve the megacity.