Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday urged NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery to support the state government in realising its ‘Swarnandhra-2047’ vision.
During a meeting with a team led by Bery here, Naidu said the vision document focuses on the major areas of economic growth, skill development, industries and sustainability. The state government envisions making Andhra Pradesh a global leader in human development and good governance, an official release quoted Naidu as saying.
However, the state faces certain challenges in view of losing the growth engine of Hyderabad due to state bifurcation in 2014 and the economic disputes between the two states (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) remaining unresolved, he said.
The other challenges include Andhra being a predominantly agriculture-based state, and the previous YSR Congress government "ignoring" capital expenditure and creating infrastructure, he said.
Naidu said the state government, however, is working hard to overcome the challenges and achieve growth by taking advantage of its strengths like the third largest coastline in the country and the largest connectivity with ports, railways and highways.
He sought the NITI Aayog's support for the development of the Visakhapatnam Economic Region and Tirupati-Amaravati as growth hubs, the release said.
Naidu said the state can achieve rapid progress if it gets NITI Aayog's support and emerges as a model state in the goal of achieving 'Viksit Bharat-2047'.
The release quoted Bery as saying that there is a lot of potential for development in the state and that the NITI Aayog would support the development endeavour.
Naidu further said the government is planning to introduce over 11,000 EV buses in the state by 2029 replacing the existing fleet of diesel buses. The government is also contemplating setting up rooftop solar power units on all bus stations, the release said.
Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister P Keshav and senior officials were also present at the meeting at the Secretariat. The meeting with the team of representatives of NITI Aayog and CM Naidu assumed significance as it came ahead of the Budget presentation. Naidu and Keshav had recently met 16th Finance Commission chairman Arvind Panagariya, the release added.
