Singapore has identified the new Andhra Pradesh capital and is keen on developing it into a smart city as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agenda to create 100 smart cities in the country. Singapore former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and a group of other ministers who are in the country for a two days trip said, they want to develop Vijayawada into a smart city.

However, they clarified that they can offer to develop only one city and that could be portrayed as model.  Goh said, “We are a small economy so we can develop only one smart city. We will identify a place. It cannot be everywhere. We will set up a platform and work accordingly. We need to be clear here about PM Modi's vision. As far as I understand, it is not about setting up 100 new smart cities but converting the existing ones. We will go back and analyse.”

The new capital of Andhra Pradesh is expected to be in and surrounding Vijayawada region. AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu recently sought approximately Rs 1 lakh crore from the 14th Finance Commission as a grant for building the new capital. However, AP CM  clarified that it would take at least 20 years to develop a full fledged capital with all facilities.

(AW: Vamshi)