Master plan in 6 months

Hyderabad: The Singapore government will prepare and submit sector-wise plans for development of infrastructure, transport, industrial, zonal and concept plans for the new capital of Andhra Pradesh in four months.

The overall master plan, including the micro-level core capital area design, will be submitted to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in 180 days from now.

The 14 member expert team from the Singapore Centre for Liveable Cities, International Enterprise of Singapore and Singapore Trade and Commerce Ministry  got down to business on Tuesday less than a day after the government to government memorandum of understanding was signed between AP and Singapore for preparation of the master plan.

Experts from Singapore took details of local conditions, type of soil, category of lands, water bodies, population, number of houses, hilly area, earthquake and flood prone pockets and other details about the capital city area. The Singapore team was also briefed on the details of the 13 districts in AP.

Municipal administration minister Dr P. Narayana, who is also the chairman of AP capital advisory committee, conducted the meeting with the team from Singapore. For the next six weeks, they will interact with officials of various departments and prepare a vision document of the capital region development area.

“On Thursday, they will meet officials of industry, tourism, police, irrigation, transport, roads and buildings and take details of existing tourism sites, roads, height of hills, forest cover, greenery and water bodies. Based on the feedback from all departments, they will prepare a total vision with  a micro-level core capital area design in six weeks,” Dr Narayana said.

A high-power working committee, comprising three officials from the AP government and three from Singapore, will be set up in a day or two to oversee the master plan preparation process on a daily basis, the minister added.

The Singapore government has already developed three cities in China. The team will collaborate with AP in drawing up a capital region plan for the approximately 7,325 sq. km area within the Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalgiri urban development authority area.

Meanwhile Aerial survey cancelled

The proposed aerial survey by the team of experts from Singapore, to have an over-view of the capital region area, was cancelled on Tuesday following the delay of an Air India flight from Hyderabad to Vijayawada.

The team was going to survey Vijayawada and Guntur aerially. Depending upon the climate and weather, the aerial survey will be planned on Wednesday. The Singapore team has stayed back in Hyderabad and will fly to Vijayawada on Wednesday if the weather is favourable.