Naidu tweaks AP capital master plan

AP team-Singapore deliberates on modifications

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who is on a two-day tour of Singapore, suggested some modifications to the capital city master plan now under preparation by experts in Singapore. Singapore Minister for Home Commerce and Industries S Iswaran made a presentation of the broad outline of the master plan for capital region to the Indian delegation. The capital city master plan will be refined by incorporating these suggestions and modifications in the next six to eight weeks.

According to a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office, Naidu began his tour reading a note in remembrance of Singapore’s Founding Father Lee Kuan Yew and later held meetings with Singapore’s Minister of Foreign Affairs K Shanmugam and Ambassador-at-Large Gopinath Pillai, followed by a high-level meeting with Iswaran.

The Andhra Pradesh delegation gave a presentation on the land pooling process and the timelines for developing the new capital city, which would have two ring roads and several radial roads connecting various small towns to the core capital region. The Chief Minister said Vijayawada could be the business and trading hub, Nandigama, a pharma hub, Gannavaram would serve as a value-added economic hub, and Amaravati could emerge as a tourism hub.

He said trade between India and Singapore has been increasing steadily. “Singapore is India’s largest trading partner in the ASEAN and one of the largest sources of foreign investment globally,” he added. The Chief Minister said the detailed plan would be out by June 2015 and assured investors ease of doing business, mega infrastructure projects, targeted policies and transparent governance would be AP’s highlights. It was decided to meet within six to eight weeks by which time the Singapore Government would come up with a revised version of the plan.

Thereafter, efforts would be made for seed capital planning, the statement said. The AP government also signed a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today with the National University of Singapore, on “Master plan on Ease of Doing Business in AP.”

On Singapore-India’s trade relations, Naidu said that trade between India and Singapore has been increasing steadily, reaching a record of US $19.4 billion in 2013-14. Singapore is India’s largest trading partner in ASEAN and one of the largest sources of foreign investment globally, he added.

Given that Singapore is one of the most preferred financial hubs for many Indian corporate houses, we have about 600 Indian companies operating in Singapore and some 6,000 companies are registered with Singapore, making it the largest business community in the country, the Chief Minister said.

Highlighting potential sectors for investment between AP and Singapore, the Chief Minister said infrastructure, Ports & Shipping, Telecommunications. Smart Cities, Transportation, Water Management and Urban Planning are some of the areas of collaboration. He added that Vijayawada could be business and trading hub while, Nandigama a pharma hub, Gannavaram as a value-added economic hub and Amaravathi could emerge as a tourism hub.