Ministers from three North Indian states woo Singapore investors

An Indian delegation comprising Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and leaders from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh is in Singapore to woo potential investors.

Chief Minister Rawat along with Punjab's Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Public Works Minister Vijay Inder Singla and Uttar Pradesh's Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana held a series of meetings with top Singaporean ministers.

They jointly led a delegation of 'Invest North' and met separately Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishna, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung and Communications and Information Minister S Iswaran.

The 'Invest North' summit is being organised by the Indian High Commission in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The CM and Indian ministers also met Surbana Jurong, the town planner which has done a master plan for Andhra Pradesh's Amaravati city.

Jurong's expertise was sought for the proposed township near Mohali, Singla told PTI.

"We have 5,435-acre land through pooling scheme for the new township "Aerotropolis" for which we are now doing a conceptual plan," said Singla.

Expected to cost USD 2.6 billion, a detailed project report is underway for the Mohali Aerotropolis.

Addressing the "Professional Diaspora Connect", gathering, the delegation also gave an update on the smart cities, saying some were in planning while others were progressing towards project implementation.

Addressing some 200 members of the Indian business community, Badal said Punjab will be among the first to complete its smart city projects covering Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jallandhar.

"We are moving ahead in a significant way. Most of the infrastructure is being put up in the cities," said Badal.

Uttarakhand's Dehradun smart city project is in the planning stage, added Rawat.

More than 50 delegates from the three states and CII are in Singapore pitching for investments.

-PTI