The Hindu : Kerala News : Cabinet panel vets draft accord for Smart City

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Thursday, Aug 17, 2006

Kerala

Kerala

Cabinet panel vets draft accord for Smart City

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Cabinet sub-committee chaired by Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has vetted the draft agreement prepared by the Information Technology (IT) Department for the Smart City project.

The Government would send the draft agreement to the Dubai Internet City (DIC), with which negotiations were on for setting up the Smart City at Kakkanad in Kochi. If the DIC found it satisfactory, an agreement would be signed soon, a top government source said.

Compensation package

The meeting decided to set up a State-level, fast-track committee for determining the land value of the area proposed to be acquired for the project.

This committee would recommend the compensation package for land acquisitions. Land acquisition measures would commence immediately. Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran, Electricity Minister A.K. Balan, Law Minister M. Vijayakumar, Industries Minister Elamaram Karim and top officials attended the meeting.

New shape

For the DIC, the project proposal took an entirely new shape after the LDF came to power. The UDF Government promised it free land against job creation targets.

The DIC was also promised the government-owned Infopark against a value that would be treated as government equity in the project.

Offers disallowed

The new dispensation disallowed these two offers. The DIC would have to work out again the financial aspects of the project. It could do so only after the Government informed it of the value of the land.

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