Seemandhra capital, advantage Macherla

HYDERABAD: Even as the UPA government is going ahead at a break-neck speed on bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, a hot race has begun for the location of new capital city for the residuary Andhra Pradesh State.

Macherla, a sleepy town in Guntur district, may well emerge as a dark horse in the race, given its proximity to Hyderabad international airport and to other key towns in Seemandhra region.

While some politicians from north coastal Andhra are lobbying for Visakhapatnam as the new capital in view of robust infrastructure available there, another section belonging to an influential community, besides some strong industrial groups, are pitching for Vijayawada-Guntur region as the ideal location for setting up the newcapital.

And there is another not-so-strong political group which is pitching for Ongole or Kurnool.

Interestingly, a powerful political group is said to be silently lobbying with the Centre for making Macherla in the upland and backward Palnad area as the capital of residuary State of AP after bifurcation.

The town, in no way, competes with the already developed cities like Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, or for that matter even Kurnool in terms of facilities required for a capital city, but sources say it has all the potential to grow into a world-class city in the next 10 years because of its strategic location and various other advantages.

The geographical advantage of Macherla is that it is hardly 160 km from Hyderabad; and if one were to measure the distance from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad via Outer Ring Road at Bonguluru on the outskirts of Hyderabad, it is just around 130 km.

'At present, we are able to reach Hyderabad from Macherla in about two-and-a half hours. If Macherla becomes a capital city of Andhra Pradesh and if the Central government constructs an eight- or 10-lane express highway connecting it with Hyderabad, it will just be one-and-a-half hour drive from Macherla to Shamshabad airport,' Venkat Reddy, a software professional from Bangalore and a native of Macherla said.

P Ramakrishna Reddy, YSR Congress Party MLA representing Macherla constituency, says it is an excellent idea to develop Macherla town into a capital city.

'There are plenty of water resources available in Macherla area because of its proximity to Nagarjunasagar reservoir. The right canal goes closely by our town and so, there will be no water problem for the capital city.

Secondly, there is a vast stretch of government lands and forest lands available around Macherla and close to Nagarjunasgar and so, there is no problem for the Centre to construct Assembly, Secretariat and other government offices in the town, besides providing all the other infrastructure facilities like airport, flyovers, ring roads etc in the next 10 years,' said Reddy.

'The only disadvantage for Macherla is that it has no major railway line, though it has a railway station. However, Nadikudi junction is hardly 25-30 km away from the town, which can be effectively utilized.

In the coming years, the Centre can also develop a train route between Macherla and Hyderabad,' he said.Reddy says Macherla is also closer to Kurnool in Rayalaseema (200 km), Ongole (150 km) in south-coastal Andhra and Guntur (100 km).

'So, it is accessible to Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra regions if eight-line road network is developed between these towns. Besides, there can be a link between NH-7 and NH-5 connecting a number of places in Telangana and Andhra,' he said.

If Centre constructs an eight- or 10-lane express highway, it will just be one-and-a-half hour drive from Macherla to Shamshabad airport
A Venkat Reddy,Software professional.

Sources said the entire 25-km stretch between Macherla town and Nagarjunasagar can be used for creating facilities like housing, healthcare, educational institutions and tourism.

'A special train route from Nagarjunsagar to Hydeabad as Inter-city services adjacent to expressway and connection to International airport will bring about a lot of development not only in Seemandhra capital, but also in parts of Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda in Telangana State,' sources said.

It gives an opportunity for Seemandhra politicians, businessmen and IT bigwigs who have assets in Hyderabad to travel to the new capital of Macherla within an hour and a half, probably which is lesser than the time required for them to travel form one-end to the other within Hyderabad.

Besides these facilities, Macherla is also industrially well-developed with location of cement and limestone factories within close proximity.

'They can be developed further resulting in a lot of employment generation. A number of export-oriented industries can come up in the area. A link to Machilipatnam port also can be developed so that exports would become easier,' sources added.