APCRDA Revives HappyNest Housing Project, Waives APRERA Renewal Fees for Homebuyers

What was decided

Briefing reporters after the 64th CRDA Authority meeting, Minister P Narayana said the authority revived the HappyNest Housing Project and decided to exempt it from Andhra Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (APRERA) renewal fees. The authority had also revived the HappyNest Housing Project and decided to exempt it from Andhra Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (APRERA) renewal fees so that homebuyers would not face additional financial burden due to delays.

A related report on the same meeting confirms the RERA side of the decision came from the regulator itself: Narayana said the government had revived the HappyNest housing project and that AP RERA had agreed to waive the renewal fee payable for the project. In effect, the state has revived construction and paired it with a regulatory concession — buyers who have been waiting since the project's original 2018 launch will not be billed again for a renewal that became necessary only because the project overshot its original RERA-registered completion timeline.

Why HappyNest needed reviving

HappyNest was Andhra Pradesh's first government-built residential scheme in the new capital. Happy Nest, the first-ever government residential project proposed by the then TDP government at Amaravati in 2018, received huge response from the people, especially those from software industry, business community and NRIs, and the 1,200 flats proposed in 12 high-rise towers on about 14.5 acres were booked within an hour of online booking opening.

Construction stalled after the change of state government in 2019, when the new administration's three-capitals plan pushed Amaravati works, including HappyNest, to the backburner. Buyers eventually pushed back through the regulator: the CRDA was issuing messages to Happy Nest subscribers in accordance with a directive from RERA, informing them they could get a refund if they wished to leave the project, after RERA found that CRDA had failed to finish the project on schedule. Separately, some early bookers had already exited: AP CRDA had allotted flats to 1,200 applicants in the township, of which 100 persons took back their money due to what officials called negligence by the previous government.

The financial cost of the delay was quantified in the tender notice that eventually restarted work: due to the delay CRDA incurred a loss of Rs 270.71 crore, and with increased land cost and other expenses the total project cost had risen to Rs 1,081.18 crore. Construction tenders for the stalled towers were reissued through a reverse-tendering process in December 2024–January 2025, ahead of this month's decision to formally revive the project and shield buyers from the added RERA renewal cost.

The rest of the 64th meeting's agenda

The HappyNest decision was one of several items cleared at the same sitting, giving a sense of the scale of activity APCRDA is pushing through as Amaravati's rebuild accelerates:

• Quantum facility contract: the APCRDA approved the award of the quantum facility project to L&T, an iconic ropeway linking Vijayawada and Amaravati, and a study on constructing an iconic bridge across the Krishna river. Reported contract values for the L&T quantum towers award vary between roughly ₹1,205 crore and ₹1,280 crore across outlets covering the same meeting.
• Digital infrastructure: the authority approved inviting tenders for setting up a 20 MW data centre and issuing Requests for Proposals for establishing 5G towers at 20 locations in Amaravati to strengthen the city's digital infrastructure.
• Ropeway (PPP): the authority approved an iconic ropeway project under the Public-Private Partnership model, connecting Vijayawada Railway Station, Pandit Nehru Bus Station, Indrakeeladri Sri Kanaka Durga Temple, Punnami Ghat, Bhavani Island and the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Amaravati.
• Land pooling compensation: the authority approved release of Rs 122 crore to the Endowments Department as compensation under Supreme Court directions, for bringing 244.39 acres of Endowments Department land in Palnadu district under the Land Pooling Scheme.
• Farmer annuity arrears: the authority ratified the loan process undertaken through the Andhra Pradesh Public Finance Corporation for payment of Rs 300 crore in annuity arrears to farmers last year.
• Inner Ring Road land: the authority approved allotment of 2,340 acres at Mothadaka village for the proposed Inner Ring Road and railway line.

Practical effect for HappyNest homebuyers

For the original 2018 bookers who stayed with the project, the immediate, concrete effect of this decision is financial: they will not have to pay a fresh APRERA renewal fee — a cost that would otherwise fall on them purely because the project's registered completion window lapsed during years of state-level stalling. Revival also signals that construction work, restarted via the reverse-tender route in late 2024/2025, now has explicit authority-level backing rather than sitting in administrative limbo.

As of August 2026, no new possession date, updated RERA registration number, or fresh price list for HappyNest has been published alongside this decision in the reporting reviewed. Buyers and prospective investors should check the APRERA portal (rera.ap.gov.in) and APCRDA's own channels for the updated project registration and construction schedule once issued.