Orvakal Industrial Smart City (Orvakal IMC / Kurnool Industrial City): Land Acquisition

Acquisition model: state land transfer, not a single consent drive

Orvakal is not being assembled through one fresh Right to Fair Compensation (RFCTLARR) notification covering all farmers at once. Instead, the Andhra Pradesh government is transferring land it already holds — or is progressively acquiring — to a dedicated Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that then develops and allots plots to industry. An addendum to the State Support Agreement and State Shareholders Agreement was executed on 30th Oct 2024 for implementation of the project through the existing SPV in the state, NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Limited, by expanding its mandate for inclusion of the Orvakal Node, and the SPV was subsequently renamed AP Industrial Corridor Infrastructure Development Corporation.

1,292 acres of land has been transferred by the State government to the Project SPV and matching equity amounting to Rs 500 crore has been released. This 1,292-acre tranche sits within a larger pool that was already in government hands: a consultant for Detailed Master Planning and Preliminary Engineering for the Orvakal Node, 9,305 acres, was appointed in January 2021, wherein GoAP proposed 4,742 acres of land to be developed under the NICDIT framework, out of which 2,621 acres was proposed as the Phase 1 Activation Area, with 2,346 acres already under possession of the State government.

A second land tranche is moving through environmental clearance rather than possession/compensation stages: ToR for the Somayajulapalle and Komarolu land parcels (Phase 2), admeasuring 2,470 acres, has been granted by MoEF&CC. Separately, environmental clearance for the first cluster was granted years earlier — EC for the Phase 1 Guttapadu Cluster was granted by MoEF&CC on 11th November 2020, and an EC amendment was considered and recommended by MoEF&CC in the EAC meeting held on 26th June, 2024.

Villages and land parcels covered

Public project descriptions place the Orvakal hub across multiple villages of Orvakal mandal in Kurnool district. The proposed Mega Industrial Hub at Orvakal village in Kurnool district was described as admeasuring approximately 9,800 acres spread across 11 villages and 8 distinct land parcels located off NH 40, which connects Hyderabad to Chennai via Kurnool, Nandyal, Kadapa and Tirupati.

• Named villages appearing in official/environmental filings: Orvakal, Meedivemula, Guttapadu, Uppalapadu, N. Konthalapadu (also written N. Konthalapadu/Nagalapuram Konthalapadu), Kalvabugga and Nannur — Uppalapadu, Guttapadu, Meedivemula and N. Konthalapadu villages of Orvakal mandal, Kurnool District were listed as the site for one industrial park filing, while a related filing referenced Meedivemula and N. Konthalapadu, of Kurnool district.
• Phase 2 parcels: Somayajulapalle and Komarolu, covering 2,470 acres, are the named villages/land parcels for the next tranche awaiting clearance.
• All villages fall in a single district — Kurnool — since the node is a single-district project; no multi-district breakdown has been published.

A separate, earlier state-government land alienation in the same villages illustrates the scale of land already in government hands here: Government Revenue (Assn.V) Department vide G.O.Ms.No.278, dated 20.07.2015, alienated an extent of 883.27 acres in Meedivemula & Guttapadu villages and possession was handed over to APIIC, with a direction for onward allotment to M/s Nuclear Fuel Complex Ltd, Hyderabad, on payment of market value of Rs 2 lakh per acre. That rate dates to 2015 and applied to an inter-agency land handover, not to a current farmer-compensation package for the present NICDC node.

Budget and funding allocated

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved 12 new industrial smart cities nationally with a combined investment of Rs 28,602 crore for trunk infrastructure. Within that, Orvakal's own allocation is reported separately: Orvakal in Kurnool district will have 2,621 acres developed as an industrial hub, generating employment for 45,000 individuals, with the government spending Rs 2,786 crore on its development. NICDC's own project page gives a similar figure: Orvakal has an investment potential of Rs 12,000 crore and a project cost of Rs 2,786 crore, aiming to generate 45,071 jobs.

Funding released so far has flowed through equity to the SPV against transferred land: 1,292-acre land transferred by the State government to the Project SPV has been matched with Rs 500 crore in equity released. This is distinct from a farmer-compensation budget line, which has not been separately disclosed in available official reporting.

Compensation rates and disputes

No current, project-specific per-acre cash compensation rate for Orvakal IMC farmers has been published in the sources reviewed for this page. Most of the acreage moved into the SPV so far (1,292 of a larger pool, with 2,346 acres already in state possession) is land the state government already held or is transferring administratively, rather than land newly acquired from patta farmers under a fresh compensation award — which is why a headline "rate per acre" for this specific node is not yet in the public record as of January 2026.

Land-related friction has, however, been reported in and around Orvakal mandal on adjacent projects:

• Kurnool Solar Park (1,000 MW), Orvakallu and Gadivemula mandals: 3,000 acres needed to be acquired for the project, belonging to patta farmers (120 acres), endowment land (25 acres) and assigned land owners (2,855 acres). Out of the 800 farmers cultivating on the land, only 180 farmers were given compensation for their land, because the district administration refused to give compensation stating that the affected farmers were cultivating on government land.
• Tippayipalle village power-line dispute (April 2026): Tension gripped Tippayipalle village in Orvakal mandal after farmers staged a protest seeking compensation for losses caused by ongoing high-voltage electricity line works, with farmers alleging the project was being carried out on their patta lands without prior notice or consent. Police detained several protesting farmers to bring the situation under control.

These disputes concern power-line and solar-park land in the same mandal, not a confirmed direct grievance against the NICDC industrial-city land parcels themselves — but they show the pattern of compensation and consent disputes that recur in this locality and are worth tracking as the Orvakal node's own Phase 2 acquisition proceeds.

Current stage (as of January 2026)

Institutionally, the project has moved from planning into early execution for Phase 1:

• A Letter of Award was issued by the SPV for a Programme Manager for New Cities (PMNC) on 27th March 2025, and for the EPC contractor on 9th October 2025.
• A kick-off meeting for the EPC contract for the Orvakal and Kopparthy Industrial Areas was held on 24th December 2025, chaired by the CEO & MD of NICDC, with participation from SPV and EPC officials.
• A 300-acre zone in the southern part of the site has been earmarked for a "Drone City" cluster focused on drone manufacturing.
• Phase 2 land (Somayajulapalle and Komarolu, 2,470 acres) remains at the environmental-clearance (ToR) stage, meaning possession/compensation processes for that tranche are behind Phase 1.

On external connectivity, road-widening requests tied to the node are also under discussion: a request has been received from NICDC for 4-laning of the existing MDR & SH-31 stretch from Veldurthi to Hussainapuram (34 km) connecting NH-44 and NH-40, and upgradation of NH-340C to four lanes with paved shoulder from Kurnool to Atmakur.

In short: Phase 1 land is largely transferred and infrastructure contracting has begun; Phase 2 land is still in the clearance pipeline; and no comprehensive, current compensation schedule specific to Orvakal IMC farmers has been published.