With gubernatorial assent having been granted to the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020 and the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Authority (Repeal) Bill, the stage appears set for the state to have different seats for the three organs of governance.

The executive capital will be located at the port city of Visakhapatnam, the High Court for the state will be established at Kurnool and the legislature will operate from Amravathi, the dream project of the previous dispensation that saw the region near Vijayawada become the focal point for speculative real estate deals, with property prices at one point of time giving Mumbai a run for their money.

With the birth of Telangana and its takeover of Hyderabad, the capital of the undivided state, Andhra Pradesh needed a new capital. Historically, Kurnool had a claim because it had once been the capital. Realistically, Visakhapatnam was the logical choice, being a well-established city with an airport, a port, advanced infrastructure facilities and access to major highways.

The government of N Chandrababu Naidu pulled a rabbit out of the hat with its proposal for a spanking new city, adjacent to Vijayawada, and incidentally the stronghold of the affluent Kamma community to which the former Chief Minister belonged. Several questions were raised about the need for such extravagance, but Mr Naidu brushed these aside.

While many landowners in the region became overnight millionaires, the project went ahead in fits and starts, not least because the parlous state of the coffers did not quite match the scale of Mr Naidu’s ambition. By the time his Telugu Desam party lost power in 2019, the project was running out of steam and the last nail was hammered in by the World Bank’s withdrawal of support, quickly followed by the backing out of the Asian Development Bank.

The project was beset with problems, and there were allegations that the previous government had ignored adverse environmental, social and financial implications of the project. Experts who had objected to the project questioned the wisdom of constructing mammoth infrastructure on the black soil plains of low-lying Amravathi. While some of the construction in Amravathi is in advanced stages, the three-city solution is in many ways an elegant one.

It is also politically adept in that it addresses regional aspirations, with the long-deprived Rayalaseema getting the High Court. A well-developed city like Vizag will now get its due. Also, it is a practical solution because the State faces both a fiscal and revenue deficit. However, it will adversely affect the many realtors who had launched mega housing projects in Amravathi, as these will now find few takers.

About the only hurdle the revised scheme may face is from the many legal challenges mounted by farmers in Amravathi. But that may not be a major impediment as the Governor is learnt to have sought counsel from legal experts before granting assent to the two Bills.