Minister Desmond Lee leads delegation to India to explore business opportunities for the Singapore built environment sector

Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for National Development, will be in Andhra Pradesh, India from 25 to 28 June 2018 to explore business opportunities for Singapore firms in the development of the city of Amaravati and other cities. He will lead a business delegation comprising 39 representatives from around 30 firms in the Built Environment (BE) sector including construction, landscaping, environmental services and security.

While in Amaravati, Mr Lee will visit the government core area, the start-up area known as Phase Z.ro as well as the Catalytic Development site developed by a Singapore consortium comprising Ascendas-Singbridge and Sembcorp Development. He will also witness the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the Andhra Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (APRERA), which will help the latter enhance its capability in creating and promoting a safe, high quality, environmentally-friendly, and productive built environment in Andhra Pradesh.

During the trip, Mr Lee will also meet the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Mr Chandrababu Naidu, Minister for Municipal Administration, Urban Planning and Development, Dr Ponguru Narayana and Minister for Information Technology, Panchayathi Raj and Rural Development, Mr Nara Lokesh.

Mr Lee said, “On the domestic front, the various Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) in our BE sector were developed to build up capabilities of our local firms and place them in a good position to seize future opportunities, while providing good jobs for Singaporeans. We also hope this will raise the competitiveness of our local firms and allow them to venture overseas. As demand in our region for quality homes, integrated infrastructure and green buildings increases, our local firms can capitalise on their varied expertise, partner one another and offer unique Singapore-brand solutions to the overseas market. I hope to explore new business opportunities for our local firms in this trip, particularly in the development of Andhra Pradesh’s new capital city of Amaravati. The Government will continue to partner and support our firms in finding overseas opportunities.”

Mr Lee will be accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), BCA, Enterprise Singapore (ESG), Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), National Environment Agency (NEA), Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), Council for Estate Agents (CEA) and the National Parks Board (NParks).