New planning institute to come up in Amaravati

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government has prepared the

blueprint for establishment

of a planning institute in Amaravati. The state government and the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) have proposed to set up the Amaravati Planning and Design Research Institute (APDRI) to involve people in the planning and design of the capital.

APDRI will have financial support from the World Bank and will seek expertise from other institutes such as Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore. The CRDA also held consultations with Future Catapult in London, PEMANDU in Malaysia and Astana Genplan in Kazakhstan.

CRDA principal secretary Ajay Jain, commissioner

Cherukuri Sreedhar

and additional commissioner Ramamohana Rao held discussions with Singapore official

Francis Chong

on designing APDRI. The guidelines are ready and would be submitted to municipal administration minister P Narayana, who will then present it to chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

The APDRI will play an active role in the design of safe pedestrian and cycling systems as well as look into the care for the differently-abled in Amaravati. It would also ready a new model for adoption of electric and autonomous vehicles in the capital city. "The APDRI will help build an innovative

world-class capital

city," Sreedhar said.