Chandrababu Naidu has said that he has no magic wand and can't conjure up a fully developed capital for Andhra Pradesh out of nowhere.
Of course he is right. There is no way that a magnificent city can be built without financial resources. And there is no money. This implies that Naidu can get the best deal for Andhra Pradesh by making his capital around an already developed city. It is in this context that Naidu's preference is for a greenfield site between Vijayawada and Guntur.
The idea is that the new capital would leverage on the soft infrastructure of Vijayawada and perhaps Guntur too. But there is a better option. If it is the soft infrastructure of a big city that Naidu wants to build upon, then the right choice will be Visakhapatnam, the second largest city in integrated Andhra Pradesh and the largest city in Andhra Pradesh.
Instead of putting a heavy load on Vizag, it is a good idea to develop a new capital southwest of the Port City. The new capital, which may be 30-40 km away, could leverage on Visakhapatnam. That way a new capital close to Vizag can spring to life faster than the one near Vijayawada or Guntur.
The argument that the new capital should be midway from all corners of the state is highly specious. If this would have been the case, the capital of India would have been Nagpur and the capital of integrated Andhra Pradesh would not have been Hyderabad.
Source: TimesOfIndia
