Amaravati, the capital of Andhra Pradesh: what it is and where it stands

The short version

After Telangana was carved out on 2 June 2014, residual Andhra Pradesh had no capital. The government picked the stretch of Krishna riverbank between Vijayawada and Guntur, notified the Capital Region Development Authority on 30 December 2014, and launched a voluntary Land Pooling Scheme in January 2015. Farmers in 29 habitations of Thullur, Mangalagiri and Tadepalli mandals handed over more than 34,000 acres within months. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone at Uddandarayunipalem on 22 October 2015.

The Secretariat moved into an interim complex at Velagapudi in October 2016, and the Legislature followed in March 2017. The High Court for the new state began work at Nelapadu on 1 January 2019. Then the 2019 change of government paused the project and proposed three capitals; the plan was withdrawn in November 2021, the High Court ordered the capital to be developed in March 2022, and the 2024 government restarted everything in June 2024.

Since then the money and the law have both arrived. The World Bank and ADB approved $800 million each, HUDCO and KfW agreed on ₹16,000 crore, the Prime Minister relaunched works worth ₹58,000 crore on 2 May 2025, and on 2 April 2026 Parliament passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill naming Amaravati as the capital in the parent Act itself.

What is being built right now

• Government complex: the permanent Assembly (250 m conical tower, Foster + Partners design, L&T contract), a new High Court complex targeted for 2027, and five Secretariat/HoD towers, four of B+G+39 floors and one of B+G+49. See Government complex.
• Roads: trunk roads on an E and N grid, the 21 km Seed Access Road whose third phase starts 29 August 2026, the Inner Ring Road under PPP, and the 189 km NHAI Outer Ring Road in land acquisition. See Infrastructure.
• Farmers' layouts: ₹3,859 crore of amenities in the returnable-plot layouts across seven zones, and monthly e-lotteries handing plots to farmers. See Returnable plots.
• Institutions: VIT-AP, SRM-AP, Amrita and NID are operating; BITS Pilani (70 acres, Mandadam and Venkatapalem) and XLRI (Inavolu) have signed up; 15 public-sector banks and insurers got foundation stones on 28 November 2025 in a 27.855-acre financial district.
• Deep tech: the Quantum Valley park with IBM's 156-qubit Quantum System Two. IBM targeted commissioning by September 2026; the state minister said on 25 August 2026 that services are expected from January 2027.

Where the second phase of land pooling comes in

The 2015 pooling gave the city its core. In 2025 the government wrote new LPS rules and, on 27 November 2025, the Cabinet approved a second phase in seven villages: Vykuntapuram, Pedamadduru, Endrayi, Karlapudi (with Lemalle) in Amaravathi mandal of Palnadu district, and Vaddamanu, Harischandrapuram and Pedaparimi in Thullur mandal of Guntur district. Together they cover 16,666.57 acres of patta and assigned land. Pedaparimi alone accounts for 5,886.18 acres, the largest single share. Pooling began at Vaddamanu on 7 January 2026.

Pedaparimi is therefore a Phase 2 village, not one of the 29 Phase 1 habitations, which is worth knowing before you are shown a plot there. Read Phase 2 in detail or the Pedaparimi village page.