Singapore looks to 3 Indian cities for SEZs

Singapore is eyeing cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai for developing special economic zones (SEZs).

It is also looking at collaborating with educational institutions in India for student exchange programmes.

A delegation representing members of the Singapore Infrastructure Mission led by Gan Kim Yong, minister of state for education and manpower, government of Singapore, visited the three cities to study the investment opportunities.

Yong told mediapersons in Hyderabad that this was a follow-up to the earlier visit made by Singapore's senior minister Goh Chok Tong to India in January this year, when he had evinced interest in joint development of SEZ in India.

"We are here to facilitate joint development between the two countries and study the government regulations that the Singapore companies will have to address in such a collaboration. Our companies are interested in setting up both sector-specific and multi-product SEZs in India. They are open to investing in setting up individual units in the SEZ as well," Yong told mediapersons in Hyderabad.

The delegation comprised representatives from the government and the private sector like Ascendas Pte Ltd, Surbana International Consultants Pte Ltd, Mitsubishi Corporation (Singapore branch) and SembCorp Industries Ltd.

The Japanese External Trade Organisation was also a part of the group.

With regard to collaboration with schools and colleges, Yong said that they visited some institutions and were looking forward to facilitating student exchange programmes.

The bilateral trade between India and Singapore is estimated to be 16.6 billion SGD (Singapore dollars). Singapore companies have invested over $1 billion in India.

5-star hotel in AP Bhavan

The Ministry of Tourism has asked the Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited (Incap) to facilitate the development of a five-star hotel and convention centre in AP Bhavan in Delhi in view of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

AP Bhavan comprises over 20 acres of land out of which around seven acres can be utilised for this purpose, LV Subrahmanyam, vice-chairman and managing director of Incap, said, adding that the corporation had forwarded the proposal to the state government.

Subrahmanyam was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with Singapore Infrastructure Mission organised by Fapcci.