Surya Desaraju
Yokohama, Japan: A three-member official delegation of the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department is now on a five-day study tour of Yokohama City, Japan.
MAUD Department Principal Secretary S Suresh Kumar is leading the delegation comprising Capital Region Development Authority Additional Commissioners G Surya Sai Praveen Chand and Mallarapu Naveen.
The Andhra Pradesh government is seeking to forge a City-to-City partnership with Yokohama, primarily for building Amaravati into a green and resilient city.
The AP team is also studying Yokohama’s models in climate action, smart urban infrastructure, use of technology in city management and economic development.
Suresh Kumar visited the Hokubu sludge treatment plant and later the Yokohama control centre for storm water, sewage and drainage management to study the systems being adopted.
The Yokohama administration made a presentation to the AP team on how the city has been transformed into a key growth centre in Japan by turning its vision into a masterplan comprising six major projects.
Cross-sectorial coordination, especially integration of transport and urban development, emphasis on urban design elements and control and induction of private sector contribution into urban development were the key elements that helped the transformation of Yokohama.
With offices of 1,800 global companies, Yokohama is highly regarded as a good business environment for researchers and engineers.
Yokohama expressed interest to provide a gamut of services throughout the whole city planning and operation value chain based on its own urban development model.
As part of the City-to-City collaboration, Yokohama is ready to provide an implementation framework of comprehensive urban development plan and urban design, facilitate private sector-led investment and initiatives, introduce smart technology by the private sector for solid waste management, wastewater, sludge, traffic management, power distribution management and renewable energy among other things.