AAP Government seeks Singaporean help for Setting up Wi-Fi across Delhi

The AAP government has sought Singapore's help for setting up a free wi-fi facility across the national capital, one of its big-ticket poll promises on which it has made a little progress.

The assistance was sought during a meeting that party vice chairman Ashish Khetan had on Saturday with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) "to learn on the issue of citywide public wi-fi, while on a three-day visit to the city state.

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Earlier, the Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC), an advisory body of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, had written to the IDA, which is under Singapore's ministry of communications and information

"We would love to meet you or any other top executive or officer at IDA that you recommend to learn more about the Singaporean model of governance, especially on the issue of citywide public wi-fi," the DDC had written.

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The panel is chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The communication further state " that "Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government wants to learn from Singapore's government, private sector, technology experts and political leaders as we attempt to change the paradigm of governance in Delhi.

"An efficient administration, holistic development and a feeling of safety security are absolutely necessary for Delhi and we believe that Singapore can help us achieve these goals," it said.

The Kejriwal government is already in touch with the Singaporean government on recycling water in the capital.

The AAP government, which has already sought public opinion on the issue, admits that providing free wi-fi to Delhiites is not going to be a cakewalk. The party volunteers had already had an interaction with companies like Facebook.

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The parliamentary secretary to Delhi IT minister Adarsh Shastri has said the national capital will get full wi-fi coverage in two years and around 700 hotspots will be set up by February 2016. The Kejriwal government is already studying successful wi-fi projects in western countries.

Experts have questioned the viability of project which, they think, needs huge investment on infrastructure.

Source: IANS