Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government introduced the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) Bill 2014 in the Assembly on Saturday. The Bill will empower the authority to legalise land pooling for the construction of the capital city.
Contrary to what was proposed in the draft Bill, the final Bill says that the government will have the powers to nominate any person as the member of the Authority at any point in time.
The draft Bill had proposed that four MLAs would be inducted in the CRDA as members. YSR Congress MLA from Mangalagiri Alla Rama Krishna Reddy and three TD MLAs Devineni Umamaheswar Rao (Mailavaram), T. Sravan Kumar (Tadikonda) and Tangirala Sowmya (Nandigama) were expected to be members of the Authority.
The Bill states that the Chief Minister will be chairman of the Capital Authority, while the municipal administration minister will be the vice-chairman. Eight bureaucrats, including the chief secretary, will be the members of the Authority.
The AP government will appoint four experts, national or international, with expertise in urban governance, urban planning, conservation, environment and transport.
The Bill states that the Capital Region Development Fund will provide a seed capital of Rs 1,000 crore as working capital to the Authority, along with a revolving fund of Rs 250crore for undertaking the development of amenities and infrastructure facilities in the capital area.
The government said that a prospective plan for 100 years, a concept master plan for 20 years and a detailed master-plan for 10 years would be prepared for the capital region.
The Authority would have the power to prepare and implement schemes for land pooling, town planning, special area development scheme within the jurisdiction of the capital region.
The Authority would be empowered to acquire, hold, and dispose movable and immovable property and regulate development activities in accordance with the development plans and bring aesthetics, efficiency and economy into the development process.
The Bill enables the government to appoint a Building Tribunal or Tribunals to initiate action against encroachments and misuse of land and other irregularities in the capital region.
The government said that the land pooling scheme is intended for land owners volunteering to surrender their land against a guaranteed return of a developed and reconstituted plot or land.
The area for the land pooling scheme may be identified by the commissioner on his own or based on the applications received from land owners or developer entity.
