AP wants to build homes for all needy, CM tells G20 delegates

Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy told the G20 delegates here on Tuesday that the AP government aimed at constructing homes for each and every needy family in the state.

The Chief Minister interacted with the delegates and participated in the gala dinner he hosted at the venue on the Vizag beach road at the conclusion of deliberations of the G20 Infrastructure Working Group meeting held in Visakhapatnam on the first day of the grand events.

“After we came to power, we gave house sites to 30 lakh people. We are in the process of building 22 lakh homes for the homeless, with all necessary infrastructure,’’ the chief minister told the foreign delegates. He urged the delegates to suggest how sustainable cities and towns can be built.

The second G20 Infrastructure Working Group meeting began its two-day deliberations in the morning and discussed various facets of making cities the economic centers of growth, as also ways of financing urban infrastructure, building future-ready urban infrastructure etc under the theme “Financing Cities of Tomorrow: Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable.’’

The meeting also discussed themes such as innovative financing models to scale up private sector investment, so as to address the infrastructure financing gap for creating future cities. It also discussed the potential application of the Quality Infrastructure Investment (QII) indicators across the infrastructure projects under the G20 India Presidency.

The meeting was attended by 57 delegates from 14 member countries, eight guest countries and 10 international organisations. G20 IWG meetings are aimed at furthering the discussions on the 2023 Infrastructure Agenda under the Indian G20 Presidency.

The meeting was also complemented by a roundtable of international organisations to discuss infrastructure taxonomies. Over 13 experts discussed the role of infrastructure definitions and taxonomies in making better data-driven decisions. The event witnessed the participation of experts from UNDP, OECD, IMF, ADB and EBRD.

Representatives from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) Mexico and the office for National Statistics, UK, presented case studies on improving the spending on national infrastructure.

On day 2, the host nation has planned a ‘health retreat’ on the beachfront. Delegates will be introduced to yoga, meditation and sattvic food. Thereafter, the IWG will continue discussing the rest of the agenda.