Tokhan Sahu, the Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs, spent June 23 touring active construction sites in Amaravati, getting a firsthand look at how far Andhra Pradesh's planned capital has come since work resumed in earnest over the past two years. The visit took him to several of the project's marquee components: the gravity canal cutting through the capital region, the N-16 trunk road, and the HOD Towers rising inside the government complex, where senior bureaucrats are eventually meant to be headquartered.
A significant part of the itinerary focused on LPS Zone-7, where developed plots are being readied for return to farmers who handed over their land under Amaravati's land-pooling scheme more than a decade ago. The scheme asked thousands of farming families in the region to contribute their fields in exchange for developed residential and commercial plots once the capital took shape -- a promise that stalled for years amid the previous state government's reluctance to fund the project, and one that officials are now under pressure to make good on as construction picks up pace.
From the field, the minister moved to a review meeting at the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority's headquarters in Rayapudi, where officials walked him through the Amaravati Master Plan and an implementation roadmap covering trunk infrastructure, sustainable urban design and citizen-facing facilities. Officials also demonstrated the Amaravati Digital Twin -- a virtual model of the capital intended to support smart-city planning, integrated infrastructure management and technology-driven governance as the city is built out.
The briefing extended beyond core capital construction to other state initiatives the Union ministry has a stake in, including APTIDCO's housing projects, livelihood programs run under the Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas, the state's electric bus rollout, and projects funded through the Centre's Urban Challenge Fund. A Union minister's direct engagement with these line items signals continued central financial and policy backing for Amaravati at a stage when the state is racing to deliver visible progress on a capital project that has already seen one false start.
