The Department of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and the International Finance Corporation jointly organized a two-day regional workshop in Visakhapatnam on 'how cities can leverage private finance'. Over 70 participants attended the workshop, including municipal commissioners, mayors, and representatives from urban state departments from Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha, as well as two Union Territories, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry. The inaugural address was given by Shri Solomon Arokiaraj, joint secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs.

The workshop provided a forum for participants to cross-learn successful case studies from a variety of states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, with examples ranging from drinking water supply to solid waste management to affordable housing to waste-to-energy plants, etc. The sessions covered topics such as "improving civic infrastructure, taking stock," "constraints to commercial financing," "international experiences," and "etc." International and national case studies on the planning and execution of innovative projects in the fields of water and wastewater, waste, affordable housing, and so on have also been discussed.

Credit rating agencies, regulators, various financial institutions, city and state leaders, experts from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and others attended. This event is part of the Jan Bhagidari events planned for the second G20 Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) meetings, which will be held in Visakhapatnam on March 28 and 29.