Visakhapatnam: Six years since Jagan Mohan Reddy scrapped the plan to develop Amaravati with Singapore firms, the Chandrababu Naidu administration has now renewed its pact with the island nation to build ‘world-class governance systems’ and a ‘future-ready capital city’ through collaborative work on urban planning, human resource development and long-term sustainable economic development.
However, the agreement is a far cry from the arrangement Naidu had with the city-state during his previous tenure. Both Singapore and Andhra Pradesh officials confirmed to ThePrint that the Singapore consortium companies would not be involved in the Amaravati start-up area development as was the plan in 2017.
According to a strategic Memorandum of Understanding between the two governments, “Singapore will support Andhra Pradesh with advanced expertise in urban planning, integrated digital platforms, institutional capacity building and knowledge-driven economic growth, strengthening the State’s efforts to build world-class governance systems and a future ready capital city.”
The MoU was signed by IT Minister Nara Lokesh and Singapore’s Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Gan Siow Huang, in the presence of Naidu and Singapore’s Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam, during the CII Partnership Summit 2025 in Visakhapatnam Friday.
Speaking to ThePrint later, Francis Chong, senior director, South Asia, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore, who was present at the event, said that the partnership will not be in the same form as earlier.
“We are doing several things in collaboration with Andhra Pradesh, including urban development that includes Amaravati, but our Singapore consortium companies will not be involved in execution of the capital project. That is unlikely to happen this time,” said Chong, a key figure in Andhra Pradesh-Singapore relations since 2014.
“Some unfortunate developments took place (during the previous regime) but we hold no grudges against anyone, we are not averse to anyone or any development initiatives,” added Chong.
Chong insisted that though public focus was largely on Singapore’s involvement in Amaravati, “Our co-operation with AP always extended much beyond Amaravati.”
“And anyway, you cannot have a city all by itself—there has to be an economic base, connecting with the rest of the nation and the world. We will respond and collaborate as per the needs, requirements determined by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.”
On the sidelines of the summit, on Saturday, P Narayana, AP minister for urban development too confirmed to ThePrint that the pact with Singapore this time is different. “Yes, the Singapore companies are not involved in Amaravati development now.”
In November 2019, months after his landslide victory over Naidu, then chief minister Jagan scrapped his opponent’s proposal to develop a Singapore-style financial hub in the planned city of Amaravati while shelving the entire capital project.
The Startup Area Development Project, to model Amaravati on the lines of Singapore, was to be developed by the Southeast Asian nation’s consortium and the Andhra Pradesh government on a 58:42 per cent equity-sharing basis.
