Six years after it opted out of the Amaravati development plan, the Singapore government is willing to partner with the Andhra Pradesh government’s ambitious project — provided it gets the central government’s support — The Indian Express has learnt.
Singapore had opted out of the capital city start-up plan in 2019 — the year Telugu Desam Party (TDP) lost power to YSR Congress Party and its leader Jagan Mohan Reddy. The project itself took a backseat after Jagan took over as chief minister from 2019 to 2024. During his tenure, Reddy floated the idea of three capitals for the state and gave precedence to Visakhapatnam over Amaravati as the executive capital.
With N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP winning Assembly elections in 2024, the Amaravati dream was revived. Since then, construction activities have resumed in full swing.
According to highly placed sources in the state government, the Singapore government is ready to jump back in, provided the Centre backs the plan.
“Andhra Pradesh government has sought the support of the central government in reviving the Singapore partnership,” a top source in the Andhra Pradesh government told The Indian Express. Singapore’s interest in Amaravati is contingent on the Central government’s support, the source said.
According to the source, this is because “a political change in the state had upset the partnership the previous time”.
While the initial plan was that Singapore would put in seed capital into the development, this time around, the partnership will be more “broad-based”, the source said.
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“The partnership, when it comes into existence, will make sure that Singapore extends technical support for the development of Amaravati. This will include support in developing infrastructure within the capital region,” a source said. The understanding was arrived at when Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his son and state minister Nara Lokesh visited Singapore earlier this month.
Sources said that Nara Lokesh visited senior Union ministers, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in Delhi on Monday to revive the Amaravati plan.
“Amaravati and Singapore were very much a part of the discussion with the Centre,” a source said. However, the Centre is not expected to enter into a tripartite agreement with the AP government and Singapore government. “We have requested the Centre to give its blessings to Singapore’s re-entry into the Amaravati project,” the source said.
Amaravati was chosen as the capital region of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 after Telangana was carved out of the state the same year. Hyderabad, which was the capital of undivided Andhra Pradesh, was supposed to continue to be the joint capital of the two states for ten years. This arrangement lapsed in June 2024, making Hyderabad the sole capital of Telangana.
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“The state of Andhra Pradesh needs a robust capital, and that is Amaravati,” the source said.
