Kerala ties up with Dubai to build major IT zone

Thiruvananthapuram: Dubai’s Technology and Media Free Zone Authority will start construction work next month on 385 million dollars IT park in India’s Kerala state, officials said Tuesday.

The foundation stone would be laid in the first week of November for the 15 billion rupees project near Kochi (formerly Cochin), said Joseph Mathew, information technology consultant to the Communist-led
state government.

‘SmartCity will become a reality soon. The government will hand over 246 acres of land to TECOM, promoters of the project,’ Mathew told AFP.

Kerala signed a memorandum of understanding with the Emirati authority to develop ‘Kochi SmartCity’ last May.

The project aims to create 90,000 new jobs within 10 years in a state where four million under 35s are unemployed among a population of 31.8 million.

Senior district administrator Hanish Mohamed said the government would grant the land on a 99-year lease and provide water, power and a four-lane highway to Kochi SmartCity, a joint venture which will run the project.

The Kerala government will have a 26 per cent stake and three seats, including the chair, on a 10-member board.

TECOM public relations manager Baiju Francis said the new zone would be located at Kakkanad, 230 kilometers north of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala.

Some 70 per cent of the space would be devoted to IT and IT-related activities and the remainder given over to commercial use, including retail, a residential complex, hotels and recreational facilities.

SmartCity is a joint venture between TECOM Investments and SAMA Dubai, part of the Dubai Holding group, set up in March 2007 to develop and manage knowledge industry townships worldwide.

SmartCity also sealed an agreement with the government of Malta to establish SmartCity Malta last April.
‘Kochi SmartCity is our second such venture,’ Francis said.

Kerala’s chief minister VS Achuthanandan told AFP his government was committed to developing more IT projects.

‘Several projects are in the pipeline. We are going to make a quantum leap by making Kerala a major IT destination,’ the 84-year old said.