Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu will invite Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the new capital, scheduled to take place on October 22.

According to sources, he has hired an Air India flight to go to Singapore from Chennai.

Ministers Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and P Narayana, State government advisor (communications) Parakala Prabhakar, Special Chief Secretary (Planning) SP Tucker, Principal Secretary to CM Satish Chandra, Principal Secretary, Finance PV Ramesh, CRDA Commissioner N Srikanth and other senior officials were accompanying Naidu.

To discuss the details regarding the development of the AP new capital, Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday left to Singapore.

The delegation on Monday will participate in a commercial meeting at Science Park with a Singapore consortium and later, meet Second Minister for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran for lunch and discuss the Swiss Challenge method for Amaravati Development.

The chief minister said Singapore had already prepared three master plans for capital region, capital city and seed capital.

With an aim to make the state digitally-empowered, Naidu said the government will soon switch over to a “certificate-less governance through e-Pragati (IT platform)”. “We are ranked second in cargo handling in the country and we will reach the top position”, he said.

With an aim to transform Andhra Pradesh into a “tourism hub”, Naidu said the tourism sector has been completely reoriented to increase its contribution to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to Rs 73,218 crore by 2020. “I’m hopeful they will come forward to do this as well”, he said, adding that Amaravati will not only serve as an administrative area but also model itself as an economy and knowledge driver.

Speaking the at the two-day district collectors’ conference, Naidu urged government departments to work closely for the successful implementation of social and economic projects.