Chandrababu Naidu, Piyush Goyal Lay Foundation For Andhra's Drone City, Space City Projects

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal virtually laid the foundation stone for the planned Drone City and Space City projects during the 30th CII Partnership

Summit.

Naidu called the foundation-laying a historic moment and said: “Laying the foundation for Drone City and Space City is historic. We will keep our first-mover advantage,” and asked the central government for more support.

The chief minister announced plans to introduce drone taxis and emphasized the need for a drone traffic control system. He also said “Quantum Valley” would launch in January 2026 and repeated the government’s goal to make Andhra Pradesh a Green Hydrogen Valley.

Goyal noted that drone use is growing quickly and praised Naidu for recognising the trend and planning Drone City. Drone City will be built on a 300-acre site in Orvakal, Kurnool district, and will include facilities for drone design, manufacturing, services, and R&D. There will also be testing and certification centers and infrastructure to train 25,000 remote drone pilots.

Twin Space Cities will be set up in Sri Sathyasai and Tirupati districts to boost private participation in the space sector. These facilities will make satellite prototypes, support space-tech startups, manufacture satellite parts, and provide launch logistics. The state expects the Space Cities to attract investments of Rs 25,000 crore and create 35,000 jobs over 10 years. The Andhra Pradesh government later signed several agreements with private companies for the Space City projects.