 "Japanese investment, smart city plan top Naidu's overseas tour wishlist")
Accompanied by members of the new capital city advisory committee, Naidu, who will call on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on November 27, will meet top officials of more than a dozen entities. These include telecom and internet major Softbank; electronics major Panasonic; Hitachi, Mitsubishi Corporation, Maruti Suzuki, Shin Maywa, port development company Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi UFJ.
Softbank had recently acquired a majority stake in online marketplace, Snapdeal, by infusing $627 million (Rs 3,845 crore). It also had announced its plan to invest $10 billion or Rs 61,000 crore in India in a bid to aggressively expand outside Japan.
Also Read
The extensive state government-industry consultations are being organised and facilitated by government agency, Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI).
Starting his visit from Osaka on November 24, Naidu would address the IT forum in Kyoto the next day, meet the top brass of Japan International Cooperation Association (Jica) on November 27 and visit Chiba smart city and the Yokohama port on the same day.
Government sources said the visit, coming soon after the announcement of capital city development plan, would help the state ink partnerships with the respective Japanese companies that are willing to invest and also secure long-term loans for the agreed projects. For the capital, Naidu had sought around Rs 1 lakh crore from the 14th Finance Commission as a grant, over five years.
“The chief minister would pitch for investments in the creation of common facilities for the world-class capital city, port infrastructure, automotive sector and renewable energy across the state,” said Parakala Prabhakar, communications adviser to the AP government.
A delegation from Japan had visited AP showing interest in developing the new capital soon after Naidu assumed office .
Urban development minster Narayana, members of Parliament Sujana Chowdary, Galla Jayadev and Kambampati Rammohan Rao, and other senior state officials are part of the delegation.
Singapore visit
Prior to Japan visit, Naidu would travel to Singapore for a three-day visit from November 12. The chief minister has often expressed his vision to create a capital on the lines of Singapore.
Naidu is expected to draw the attention of “the country’s ruling leadership to partner in the development of Visakhapatnam as a smart city,” said a cabinet minister.
He is scheduled to meet Singapore’s former Prime Minister and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong on November 13.
During his India visit in September, Tong had expressed his country’s willingness to partner the Centre's smart city plan. In his interaction with Prime Minister Modi, he said they would participate in only one city that could be portrayed as a model.
“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 will go back and analyse,” he had said.
The project would be funded by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, according to a government official who refused to be identified.