Vijayawada: The new capital, Amaravati, would see Chief Minister of the State and the Governor as neighbours living on the same lane. The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and the Raj Bhavan, are planned to come up in the same lane, making it easy for the security cover.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had advised the UK-based master designers, Norman Fosters, to bring revised designs in the next two weeks so as to place them before the people for their review. The Chief Minister, who took a look at the designs submitted by the Norman Fosters at his Undavalli residence, suggested some changes.

The Chief Minister had asked the designers to plan a 100-feet tower close to the Assembly complex. The tower would be open to the visitors to have an overall view of the capital city from the top of it. Like in Parliament, the Chief Minister had proposed a huge Central Hall between the Assembly and Legislative Council.

The Secretariat and the offices of the Heads of Departments would also come up side by side facilitating easy movement of the staff and the people. These two buildings would have a huge convention center, trade center and an exhibition center located in the opposite direction.
The Chief Minister had also suggested on having massive statues of former chief minister N T Rama Rao on one side and late Dr B R Ambedkar on the other side of the Government City. The Chief Minister wanted the master designers to make some changes to the High Court complex that would reflect the Telugu peoples’ culture.

The master designers were asked to return in two weeks as the government is heading for beginning of the Government City construction work shortly. The task of building the Government City, the first to come up in the nine cities planned in the capital, was already handed over to the Singapore Consortium.