CM Naidu has modalities ready for a new state capital at Amaravati. The design will be modelled on Singapore and land will be procured through land pooling. Centre's funding for Polavaram irrigation & dam project will realise the dream of making AP drought-proof. “My weekly focus is on Polavaram—to make interlinking happen by 2018. Water in the Krishna river will not only strengthen irrigation downstream, but it can also provide drinking water to Visakhapatnam. I'm hoping the project is finished by 2019 (in time for state elections),” says AP CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu.

There is optimism and self-belief aplenty to overcome legacy issues of a difficult partition. Naidu likes to embrace disruptions: “I've steered the 3rd industrial revolution that is IT, and now we have the 4th industrial revolution, which is IT combined with the Internet of Things. It's a very powerful thing,” he says.

Aadhaar-inspired disruption is an unprecedented opportunity to scale up, for targeting and delivering benefits to 50 million people. Making citizens central to the transformation makes great political sense too! Naidu speaks about it regularly. “In my last stint, I'd put economic reforms ahead of the people. Now I balance reforms and welfare. We are hand-holding weaker sections. We will be using systems to reach the common man, to satisfy them and make them stay invested in the changes we are undertaking.”

SUNRISE AP - Vision 2029
The Sunrise plan is for AP to emerge as a top 3 state by 2022, and a developed state by 2029. This ambitious transformation is to be achieved through sustained double-digit growth in the state’s economy, which in turn will need a thorough structural transformation.

The vision document has set what it defines as 12 basic needs for all:
♠ Water ♠ Housing
♠ Power ♠ Sanitation
♠ Gas ♠ Health care
♠ Roads ♠ Education
♠ Fibre optics ♠ Food and nutrition
♠ Financial inclusion
♠ Social safety nets

Reaching the people
Aadhaar helps individuals to access grids and govt platforms, that supply power, water, gas, internet, govt services, telehealth & tele-education. State govt will also undertake detailed population survey to gather microcosmic information at the grassroots level, to help customize development programs.

Leveraging geography
New look AP retains 974 km-long coastline which can be leveraged for state's benefit. Eastern seaboard overlooks a vibrant economic region but infrastructure on the Indian side is not so good. Visakhapatnam, a major port, 14 state ports and 3 railway lines already exist. Plans are afoot to develop 7 airports and 2 industrial corridors. Chennai—Bengaluru corridor passes through AP. Another IC will connect Visakhapatnam to Chennai. Inland waterways—incl Buckingham canal will also get developed.

Industrial strength through hubs
"AP can be a logistics and manufacturing hub. Companies are already setting up plants and GST is expected to give a further boost to business. Sricity has 3 hubs, which should be for automobiles; Rayalaseema will have hubs for aerospace and defence, and Visakhapatnam has one hub."

Naidu wants AP to be a leading supplier and exporter of horticulture. He is betting big on solar energy & battery storage and will supplement this with R&D centre for battery research. These sunrise industries face stiff competition from global players but India itself is a big market. Let's see !!
Inside Chandrababu Naidu’s plan to make Andhra Pradesh a sunrise state