Kerala   

Foundation stone laid for Smart City project in Kochi

Kochi: The Smart City project, on which Kerala has glued its IT development dreams and foreign-investment hopes, took the first step towards realisation when Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan laid the foundation stone on Friday.

At the glittering ceremony, Mr. Achuthanandan said that once it became certain that the Smart City project would take off, his government received several proposals from abroad for setting up such ventures in the State.

The project was a fine example of public-private participation, he said. It would create about 90,000 jobs.

A joint venture of the Kerala government and the Dubai-based TECOM Investments, the Smart City project aims to become a “township for knowledge-based companies.”

The project will be based on the successful business models of Dubai Internet City and Knowledge Village. With an estimated investment of $350 million, the project aims to create 8.8 million square feet of built-up space with necessary infrastructure, environment and support systems which will be offered to knowledge-based companies. It will also offer a host of business support services as well as residential, hospitality and recreational facilities.

Fareed Abdulrahman, a senior executive of the TECOM Investments, said the Kochi project was the second SmartCity, the other being SmartCity Malta. “We envisage SmartCity Kochi to be a significant hub of excellence for knowledge-based industries,” he said.

“At an early stage, we had identified Kochi as a location with significant potential to become a knowledge-based industry hub.”

Projected as the symbol of an emerging ‘knowledge economy’ of Kerala, the project attracted immense media attention and political wrangling between the United Democratic Front and the Left Democratic Front. After a lot of delay, dithering and uncertainty, the TECOM company and the LDF government signed an agreement on May 13 this year.

The Chief Minster was very keen that the project should become a reality.

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