Andhra Pradesh is working hard to become a green hydrogen hub and to take the lead in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) development, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu told NDTV at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos.
Green hydrogen is a clean energy source that only emits water vapour and leaves no residue in the air.
Mr Naidu, who comes to Davos as part of the ‘India Story’, said he is keeping a keen eye on the latest global trends on investments.
“Green energy, green hydrogen, and AI are hot subjects globally. We want to promote and be leaders in them,” Mr Naidu said.
He said there are two sides to the speed of doing business.
“Speed of doing business is one aspect. The other aspect is how departments can work to deliver services to citizens effectively and efficiently. We are in an inspiring time. We have access to historical data at a time when AI is becoming mature,” the Chief Minister said, adding the combination of real-time data collection, update, and integration will help in creating quick solutions.
“Earlier, I used to talk about transparency. Now, it is a matter of knowledge enhancement. That is what is happening. Speed of doing business is a reality. Business always has to be done within a stipulated time and that is where we are working,” Mr Naidu said. “Investors have confidence and faith in us because of a fast track record.”
Green Hydrogen
While Andhra wants to be a leader in the area of producing green hydrogen, globally green hydrogen is considered expensive. On whether he is confident that the price will be something which will be viable for people across India, Mr Naidu said, “Global warming is a reality and we are crossing 1.5 [degree Celsius]. Everybody is worried and we are seeing the impacts all over the world. The issue is how to bridge the gap between countries on green energy and green hydrogen. In our state, if you can go for solar, wind and pumped energy, compared to your traditional energy, our average power procurement cost will be less as on today.”
He said the area of green hydrogen is slowly maturing, citing the NTPC project for green hydrogen in Visakhapatnam that costs Rs 1.87 lakh crore.
“Greenco is going in a big way. Already, they produced a hybrid model, solar, wind, pumped energy, green energy and now they want to go for green ammonia. They will start producing within a year and are tying up with buyers. So, this is a reality that is slowly maturing,” Mr Naidu said.
Drone City
Mr Naidu’s government is working to develop a ‘drone city’ in the state. This will increase mechanisation and bring with it a lot of changes. He gave the example of how drones can take over part of police patrolling work.
“I had to deploy many personnel for police patrolling earlier. Now I can deploy two-three drones and they will patrol. The personnel will intervene and go to the site when needed,” Mr Naidu said. “Many other similar applications can be developed in the area of health, education, medicine. When there is a flood, I cannot reach every home. I can send relief material using drones. India has some distance to go for drone applications, which is why I want to prepare use cases.”
He said Andhra can give proof of concept, and if it is proven to work, then manufacturers can take over and scale it up.
“This is the model we are working on,” Mr Naidu said.
Amaravati Project
Mr Naidu said he developed Hyderabad and created Cyberabad in undivided Andhra, and after bifurcation he has been compelled to develop one more city, Amaravati. “Naturally, it will be the grandest with new technologies and environmental sustainability. India needs new cities… After Chandigarh, cities have only expanded but no new ones have been created.”
Mr Naidu said the Centre is doing its best to help the state.
“But my state was in deep trouble after five years of rule, total destruction. Amaravati was almost defunct and destroyed. Polavaram was derailed. Development was totally stopped. I had so many problems… NDA is helping us, but overnight we cannot transform things. A good thing is changes are happening very fast and Amaravati is on track. Polavaram is also going on,” Mr Naidu told NDTV.
The five-day meeting at Davos that began on Monday is exploring how to relaunch growth, harness new technologies and strengthen social and economic resilience, according to the World Economic Forum. The global meeting is seeing participation by nearly 3,000 leaders from over 130 countries, including 350 governmental leaders.
India’s participation at Davos aims to strengthen partnerships, attract investment, and position the country as a global leader in sustainable development and technological innovation. India sent five Union ministers, three chief ministers, and ministers from several other states to the WEF this time.