Channel NewsAsia 3 May 10;
SINGAPORE : Singapore will be sharing its experience in Urban Governance and Management with the government of Kerala, India.
A Collaboration Agreement was signed on Monday between Mr Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary to Government, Local Self Government Department and Mr Alphonsus Chia, Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE).
A delegation of 15 senior government officials from Kerala, led by Mr Singh, is in Singapore from May 3 to 7 to kick-start the programme with a policy roundtable on the Strategy and Implementation for Urban Governance and Management.
The programme will be supported by non-profit philanthropic organisation Temasek Foundation, with a grant amount of about S$870,000 and co-funded by Kerala's government with an amount of S$124,450.
SCE will be the implementing agency for the programme. SCE is an agency formed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 2006 to respond effectively to the multitude of foreign requests to tap on Singapore's development experience.
The five-day policy roundtable will enable the officials from Kerala to interact and exchange knowledge and information with a team consisting of experts from the Public Utilities Board (PUB), National Environment Agency (NEA) and private sector companies like Surbana International Consultants, Surbana Technologies, CH2M HILL and MWH.
They will cover areas such as urban and waterfront planning, facilities management, water management and solid waste management.
Following the roundtable, eight training workshops will be conducted in the capital of Kerala and the city of Calicut, benefiting a total of 120 officials from Kerala.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr Alphonsus Chia, CEO of SCE said: "We hope that through this collaboration, we can pave the way for other Singaporean parties to better understand the developments in Kerala and also to find new cooperation opportunities."
- CNA/al
Singapore to help Kerala with projects
Straits Times 4 May 10;
SINGAPORE will work with officials from Kerala in a new programme designed to help the Indian state improve its management of major projects.
The partnership programme, which is sponsored by the Temasek Foundation, is intended to help Kerala officials draw up development and infrastructure plans to improve urban and waterfront planning, facilities and water management as well as deal with solid waste.
A Kerala government official here for the signing ceremony yesterday said its agencies have limited capacity to exploit large central government inflows of funds due to a lack of professional staff.
Mr Rajesh Kumar Singh said the sharing of ideas and experiences in the programme's workshops 'will definitely enable the urban managers and administrators to formulate action plans to meet the strategic goals'.
The Singapore Cooperation Council (SCE) will implement the programme with funding of $870,000 from the Temasek Foundation and $124,450 from the government of Kerala.
A delegation of 15 senior government officials from Kerala is in Singapore to kick-start the process with a five-day policy roundtable to discuss strategy and implementation for urban governance.
Experts from a range of Singapore government organisations, including PUB and the National Environment Agency, and private sector firms will then conduct eight training workshops for 120 Kerala government officials.
A collaboration deal was signed yesterday by SCE chief executive Alphonsus Chia and Mr Singh, secretary to government in Kerala's Department of Local Self Government.
'This is the first partnership between SCE, Temasek Foundation and the state government of Kerala,' said Mr Chia, who hopes the collaboration will open doors for Singapore businesses to move into Kerala.
He said the agreement will be the start of a 'long and fruitful exchange', not just between the two governments but between the private sectors of both regions.
HARSHA JETHNANI
