Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government has approved a new redevelopment model for slums, and its implementation is to begin from Velampeta slum in Visakhapatnam in a major push towards transforming congested urban settlements. "In a major push towards transforming congested urban settlements, the Andhra Pradesh Government has cleared a new redevelopment model for slums, which is to begin in Velampeta slum in Visakhapatnam," it said. Further, the government has directed GVMC to execute the Velampeta redevelopment in a time-bound manner and treat it as a pilot project for replication in other slum pockets under the VER Programme. Besides the Velampeta pilot, the government has also directed the Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration to prepare a draft policy for slum redevelopment and middle-class housing, in consultation with all stakeholder departments. If successful, the Visakhapatnam model could emerge as a scalable framework for rejuvenating ageing and congested urban settlements across Andhra Pradesh while simultaneously unlocking economic value from scarce city land, the press release added.