Kerala Govt Skeptical Over Smart City Project

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At last, the global financial crisis strangulated the much hyped Smart City project in Kochi, Kerala...

At last, the global financial crisis strangulated the much hyped Smart City project in Kochi, Kerala. Recently, VS Achuthanandan, Chief Minister of Kerala, expressed his skepticism over the launch of Rs 15 billion Smart City project due to market slowdown. Several states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were after the Dubai Internet City for the project, and finally Kerala bagged the project.

The proposed project, to be jointly launched by the state government and the Dubai-based Smart City, is slated to come up on a 246-acre plot with 8.8 million sq ft of built-up space. 70 percent of this space is earmarked for IT and IT-enabled services. VS laid the foundation stone of the project on Nov 16, 2007. Since then, barring a few board meetings, there has been no movement in the project. Achuthanandan said that Smart City Dubai may not have the required funds because of the financial crunch. So this infrastructure major was making "undeserving demands."

T

he total outlay of the project is Rs Rs 15 billion. Around 1,000 acres of land is needed for the completion of the project and of which Kerala government is providing them 200 acres of land in Kakkanadu, near the Kochi Infopark. The government assured the Dubai Internet City officials that it will acquire the remaining land soon.

The Smart City, which is expected to create more than 100,000 new jobs in the first stage and around 5 Lakhs jobs directly and indirectly in the last stage, would provide critical infrastructure for IT services and IT-enabled service companies.

If completed, the government expects the Smart City will break the Information Technology bastions of Karnataka and Tamilnadu by opening great opportunities.

But the IT fraternity in Kochi is not over enthusiast for this project. They believe that there will not be great change in business environment in this region. I dont think that this project will make strong ripples in the business

scenario because even if the project is completed, it will be benefited to IT giants not small retailers like us. The major thing Smart City brings is it shot up the price of land, said PK Harikrishnan, President, AKCMADA.

According to SR Nair, Managing Director, Team Frontline Limited, Cochin, Looking at the present economic condition, I dont think that there are enough investors to invest in Smart City. A lot of space in various IT parks in Kerala is vacant now. So, during this downward trend, there is no use of invest in it.