The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Achuthanandan promises all help to IT entrepreneurs to set up units

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 23, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Achuthanandan promises all help to IT entrepreneurs to set up units

Staff Reporter

Thejaswini is expected to create 6,000 additional jobs

High-speed highway project to link Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram sought CIAL project to set up IT park to be implemented soon: Chief Minister

IT BOOM: Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan inaugurating Thejaswini building at the Technopark in the capital on Thursday; (right) a view of the new building. — Photos: S. Gopakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on Thursday dedicated to the nation `Thejaswini,' the seventh and largest building of the State-owned Technopark here.

He promised to extend all possible support to entrepreneurs in the Information Technology (IT) sector to help them set up units in the State.

`Thejaswini,' spread over an area of 8,50,000 sq. ft., has already been leased out to major IT companies such as Infosys, Ernst and Young, Sun Tech and US Technology.

It is expected to create 6,000 additional jobs in Technopark. At present, Technopark employs nearly 15,000 people. Mr. Achuthanandan said discussions on the `Smart City' project in Kochi were in the final stages. An IT park with modern facilities would soon come up in the area earmarked for the project, he said.

Mr. Achuthanandan said steps were being taken to expedite the launch of the proposed Technocity project of Technopark in 500 acres of land at Pallippuram, 15 km away from the city. The project of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) to set up an IT park would also be implemented soon.

The Chief Minister said the State was aiming at creating two lakh employment avenues in the IT sector during the five-year tenure of the Government. The presence of qualified persons, good working ambience, advanced technological infrastructure and serene climate in Kerala were some of the factors prompting IT companies to set up operations here, he said.

Better scope

Kiran Karnik, president of NASSCOM, said IT companies were now in a phase of dispersing their operations from huge metros to newer destinations. States like Kerala had better scope of attracting IT companies as they were now moving out to areas where quality human resource was available.

Mr. Karnik, however, urged the Chief Minister to launch a high-speed highway project to link Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, which were fast developing as the IT hubs of the State.

He also appealed to Mr. Achuthanandan to take steps to make Kerala a "complete computer literate State" by 2010.

Minister for Law M. Vijayakumar, Mayor C. Jayan Babu, MLA M.A. Vaheed, IT Special Secretary K.R. Jyothilal and Technopark Chief Executive Officer N. Radhakrishnan Nair spoke.

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