Hyderabad: As his administration moves to recommence Amaravati capital construction works later this month, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is wooing investors in Singapore again to aid the development of his dream project.
During its earlier stint in government, the TDP had in 2017 brought in a Singapore consortium, under the aegis of the city-state’s government, which was shown the door later, in 2019, by then CM and YSRCP leader Jagan Mohan Reddy as he brought all activity in predecessor Naidu’s Amaravati venture to a grinding halt.
With Jagan’s exit and Naidu back in the saddle, Amaravati, on the banks of Krishna river, near Vijayawada, is back in the limelight since last year as Andhra Pradesh’s sole capital.
The YSRCP’s unrealised plan was to have three: Visakhapatnam as administrative capital, Kurnool as judicial capital and Amaravati as legislative capital.
The Rs 1 lakh-crore mega Amaravati project, Naidu’s blueprint to raise a greenfield, AI, tech-infused, world class capital to rival Telangana’s Hyderabad and serve as truncated Andhra Pradesh’s growth engine, is on the anvil again now.
The vision is to develop the core capital on the lines of Singapore.
The massive project is expected to be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi once more, in the third week of April, in another grand ceremony. The first foundation stone for Amaravati was laid by Modi in October 2015, during his first term.
On Thursday, Naidu met with a delegation from Singapore led by Francis Chong, senior director, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore.
While the state government did not disclose the outcome, a senior bureaucrat told ThePrint that the meeting was the “first of more such meetings to bring the Singapore firms back on board, and ended on an encouraging note”.
“Singapore team seems to be harbouring some hard feelings and misgivings and reasonably so for the way they had to exit the project. But the fact they came all the way here to talk shows their willingness to be re-engaged in Amaravati development,” said the official.
A day earlier, on Wednesday, the delegation from Singapore held discussions on the subject with Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary K. Vijayanand, Municipal Administration and Urban Development department principal secretary Suresh Kumar, AP Capital Region Development Authority commissioner K. Kannababu, and other officials.
Vijayanand emphasised on Amaravati capital construction as the state’s priority and informed them about resource availability from the Centre, and agreements made with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other institutions for funds, while he sought renewal of Singapore government’s support, according to a communication from the state government.
Suresh Kumar conveyed to the delegation Naidu government’s resolution to expeditiously build Amaravati, and to make it sustainable and among the most liveable cities in the world.
Singapore representative Chong, ThePrint has learnt, reciprocated by saying they would make every effort to restore cooperative partnership with Andhra Pradesh on the development of Amaravati.
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Singapore’s previous engagement
In November 2019, months after he romped to power in a landslide victory over Naidu, then CM Jagan scrapped his bete noire’s proposal to develop a Singapore-like financial hub in the planned city of Amaravati, even as he shelved the entire capital works.
The Startup Area Development Project, to model Amaravati on the lines of Singapore, was to be developed by the city-state consortium in partnership with the Andhra Pradesh government on a 58:42 percent equity-sharing basis.
Designed to serve as Amaravati’s investment catalyst, the project, planned in an area of 1,691 acres, was intended to create 2.5 lakh jobs, welcome 1.25 lakh families, garner tax revenue of about Rs 10,000 crore annually, and cumulatively contribute Rs 1.15 lakh crore to the state GDP by 2032.
A contract for this purpose was signed between Singapore and Andhra Pradesh governments in May 2017 and a Singapore consortium of Ascendas-Singbridge and Sembcorp Development were engaged as master developers for the project.
A special purpose vehicle, Amaravati Development Partners (ADP), was also set up then with the state government’s Amaravati Development Corporation.
The YSRCP government, however, terminated the start-up area project in 2019 that Naidu had planned alongside the then Singapore minister for trade relations, S. Iswaran.
Despite the cost of a “few millions of dollars” because of the termination, the Singapore ministry of trade and industry had then said the “closure is based on mutual consent between the GoAP (state government) and Singapore consortium”.
In his white paper on Amaravati released last year, Naidu said the MoU cancellation with Singapore consortium, along with all agreements, had resulted in loss of investment to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore.
Another top bureaucrat, part of Naidu’s meeting Thursday’s with the delegates, told ThePrint: “Instead of revisiting that bitter episode, our immediate, entire focus was on rebuilding good relations, and them coming on board at the earliest as the key partner they were earlier. The CM conveyed his keenness on AP-Singapore cooperation to the team.”
Positive signs from Singapore
Singapore has been hinting at some positive signals on renewing the partnership for development of Amaravati. On 23 July last year, the day of the Union Budget, Singaporean High Commissioner Simon Wong expressed happiness on X over the “Rs 15,000 crore earmarked” for Amaravati. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had then proposed to facilitate special financial support through multilateral development agencies.
On 31 July, the Singaporean consul general in Chennai, Edgar Pang Tze Chiang, called on Naidu in Amaravati, which was also seen as a positive indication of Singapore’s willingness to reassociate with Andhra Pradesh. In the state budget for 2025-26, the Naidu government has allocated Rs 6,000 crore for the Amaravati Capital City Project.
MA&UD Minister P. Narayana announced in the state legislature last month that Amaravati development is set to receive funding of Rs 31,000 crore from various organisations.
Of this, Rs 15,000 crore is from the World Bank and ADB, Rs 11,000 crore from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) while the German state-owned KfW Bank will loan Rs 5,000 crore.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
The mistake Naidu did was that he failed to build the capital in his previous term. Now, in his present term, he has already wasted so much of time that may fail to complete it this time, too.