Andhra likely to finalise partnership deal with Singapore to develop Amaravati soon

Hyderabad: After a contentious separation during the YS Jagan government, N Chandrababu Naidu's NDA government in Andhra Pradesh appears to be moving closer to formalising the re-establishment of its partnership with Singapore to develop Amaravati, the state's capital city.

Naidu, accompanied by a team of bureaucrats, his son and IT Minister Nara Lokesh, and other cabinet colleagues, will visit Singapore in the last week of July to discuss reviving this partnership, which was terminated during the previous YSRCP administration. During the visit, Naidu is likely to seal the deal with the Singapore government.

When the YSRCP came to power in 2019, the government canceled an agreement with the Singapore Consortium, comprising Ascendas Singbridge Pte Ltd (now part of CapitaLand Group) and Sembcorp Development Ltd, to develop the seed capital area in Amaravati.

In 2018, the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) under the TDP government had signed a concession and development agreement (CADA) and a shareholding agreement (SHA) with the Singapore consortium to execute the Amaravati Start-up Area Development Project.

The start-up area encompasses 6.84 square kilometers of development land, planned for completion in three phases over 20 years. At that time, more than 15 companies and institutions from Germany, India, Japan, and Singapore entered into Memoranda of Understanding as partners in smart buildings, smart energy, smart environments, and smart collaborations.

Led by the Chief Minister, the official delegation will visit Singapore from July 26 to 30 as an "Exposure Visit and a Networking Visit with focused engagements across political, institutional, and business leadership in Singapore, to explore possibilities of collaboration and learning in areas such as urban planning, city beautification, gardening, ports and other logistics infrastructure, adoption of future technologies," according to a government note.

In August 2024, during its first meeting after the TDP-led NDA formed government, CRDA decided to initiate talks with Singapore. Accordingly, the state government approached the Centre as the process involves bilateral formalities between both nations. The Centre also agreed in principle with the Naidu government's request to initiate talks with the Singapore government.

Between 2014 and 2019, the previous Naidu government, with support from the Singaporean government, envisioned a start-up area development project in the core capital region, for which they established Amaravati Development Partners (ADP).

Singapore Amaravati Investment Holdings (SAIH) and Amaravati Development Corporation Ltd. (ADCL) were shareholders in the ADP. SAIH was a wholly-owned joint venture company of Ascendas-Singbridge Andhra Investment Holdings and Sembcorp Development India.

Singapore's then trade minister, S Iswaran, who now faces corruption charges in his country, previously stated that the project had cost the Singaporean companies a few million dollars and that the closure would not impact their investment plans in India. He said Singapore remains interested in opportunities in Andhra Pradesh.