Minister P Narayana and officials met director S S Rajamouli at his residence regarding the architecture of Amaravati’s new buildings on Monday, following Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s direction to take inputs for the designs of submitted by London based firm Norman Fosters.
Several sections of the society raised objections and expressed discontent over looping in Rajamouli. It is evident that the final design of Amaravati will not be available anytime in the near future.
The delay can be attributed to political motives of the TDP government, which apparently will start intensifying the efforts of Amaravati construction at the eleventh hour of the elections to gain popularity and project their efforts in the nick of time.
It may be recalled that in 2015, Chief Minister invited 10 companies for designing Amaravati. The three architects were picked – Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas and Richard Rogers. But soon they were replaced and the contest was between Maki and Associates, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Vastu Shilpa Consultants. Maki Associates was awarded the project but after the designs were made public, the Japanese firm was removed from the project under uncertain circumstances. Maki Associates were not satisfied with the government’s latest decision to include Mumbai based Hafeez Contractor for the preparation of new design. Soon they were replaced by Norman Fosters who submitted two designs so far but nothing got finalized yet.
Now the Bahubaali-Rajamouli angle to the capital will only add to further delay. The route to secure the world-class capital city is longer than imagined and will not beat the clock of elections.