Hyderabad, November 18 2014: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh is confident, the Singapore government and its agencies will help him build a world class vertical capital for the new state he now heads.
Back from a 3-day visit to the island-state, Naidu said he is awaiting a nod from Singapore's cabinet to launch public-private partnerships with leading institutions to work on a master plan for a smart city he hopes to be a trend setter in India.
The need has arisen because the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh left after the state of Telengana was carved out of it is left without an administrative capital. Naidu has rejected suggestion to designate one of the major cities in his state like Vijayawada or Visakhapatnam as the capital and instead had opted to create an all new entity -- allowing the state the opportunity to bring world class infrastructure to the new state -- complete with skyscrapers, amusement parks, skyways and entertainment hubs.
Naidu, said Singapore's senior minister S Eswaran and his senior officials had agreed in principle to help the state government in its efforts. Andhra officials who accompanied the Chief Minister told New Indian Express, a team of architects and designers, as well as officials of the Singapore government, could visit India within the next few weeks to help create a blueprint for the new capital city.
“The Singapore government and its entrepreneurs are known for promising less and delivering more and I am confident it is going to happen even in case of the AP capital", Naidu was quoted in Deccan Chronicle as saying. He drew parallels between Singapore and Andhra Pradesh,: Like the truncated AP, Singapore was also separated from Malaysia in 1963. Despite limited space, lack of water, Singapore developed rapidly in a short span earning recognition as one of the Four Asian Tigers. “Though Singapore has limited resources, it has progressed on all fronts because of hard work, good planning, lack of corruption and efficient administration. Singapore’s population is just 5 million whereas AP’s population is 50 million . But, their income is 10 times higher than ours,” he said.
Naidu added that he interacted with 200 companies in Singapore and many including SIA, Sembcorp, Ascenda, Jurong and Temasek had shown keen interest in partnershiop opportunities in his state. He is also keen on replicating the urban housing model of
Panggol of government-subsidised sustainable green buildings meant for low income families.(The Hindu report).
Chandrababu Naidu has a reputation as a no-nonsense develop-oriented politician.During his previous tenure as Andhra Chief Minister, He helped persuade the likes of Bill Gates of Microsoft to make his capital city their India HQ -- and leveraged such contacts to create HiTec City -- the IT hub of Hyderabad which soon acquired the popular name, Cyberabad.