HYDERABAD: An information technology special economic zone named "IT Tower" will come up near the airport town of Gannavaram between Vijayawada and Eluru on an extent of 30.6 acres of land.

The ambitious project, taken up as part of the plan to develop second tier IT hubs in cities such as Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Warangal, Kakinada, Guntur, Nellore and Tirupati, will provide employment to some 40,000 IT professionals.

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the transfer of this land at Kesarapalli near Gannavaram from the Prisons Department on payment of Rs. 2.25 crores by the IT Department.

Briefing reporters, Information Minister Mohd Ali Shabbir said Vijayawada had emerged the most preferred IT centre next to Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. The Vijayawada region accounted for one out of every four IT professionals from the State employed in Silicon Valley. The Minister said the Government, in fact, had wanted to set up an "incubation centre" on a two-acre site at Polytechnic College in Vijayawada in association with Software Technology Park of India and even paid Rs. 1 crore to the STPI for construction of buildings. But the project could not take off due to non-availability of land in the vicinity.

Mr. Shabbir announced 29 types of concessions to the IT Tower SEZ.

Export potential

Notable among them are exemption of customs duty and central excise on import of capital goods, cent per cent income tax exemption for five years and to the tune of 50 per cent for the next two years and no cap on foreign direct investment. The units coming up in the proposed SEZ with 12 lakh sq-ft built space would be eligible for supply of power and water at concessional rates.

The Minister said the Cabinet felt the need for developing the IT in the State in a big way in view of the vast export potential. The State's exports of IT and IT-enabled services touched Rs. 8,270 crores in 2004-05, a 64 per cent increase over the last year.

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