Kerala - Kochi   

VS: State draws more investors

V.S. Achuthanandan says Smart City project is an initiative with private-public participation.

KOCHI: Ever since the State government signed the agreement with TECOM for the Smart City Kochi, several such proposals have been pouring in from across the globe, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said.

He was talking at the foundation stone-laying function of the Smart City, a self-sustained industry township for knowledge-based industry, held at Kakkanad near here on Friday.

“Discussions are on with several investors who have approached the State with similar projects in various districts,” he said.

Mr. Achuthanandan said that after the public sector IT projects like the Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram and Infopark in Kochi, Smart City Kochi was a new initiative with private-public participation.

He said that with the project set to bring in several thousands people in the next few years, the traffic congestion, which is already a bane of Ernakulam district, would become more serious.

“We will have to think of trains and overbridges over water bodies to get over this problem at the earliest. Several suggestions are before the government. A decision will be reached after studying them and holding discussions with the authorities concerned,” he said.

He urged the Smart City authorities and the government officials to work sincerely for completing the project in a time-bound manner. Earlier, he inaugurated the function by lighting a traditional lamp. Mr. Achuthanandan unveiled the foundation plaque along with Farid Abdul Rahman, Executive Director of Smart City.

Smart City, a joint venture company promoted by TECOM Investments and Sama Dubai, will develop Smart City Kochi in association with the State government.

Ahmad Bin Byat, Executive Chairman of TECOM, who was to attend the function did not turned up, as his flight could not take off from Dubai owing to technical reasons.

Reading out the speech of Mr. Byat in his absence, Mr. Rahman said that Smart City envisaged making Kochi a hub of excellence for knowledge-based industries. “The exponential growth enjoyed by India’s IT and IT-enabled service sectors, and the continued foreign investment interest, adds to the promise that Smart City Kochi holds,” he said. Smart City Kochi will be a significant part in the network of knowledge-based industry townships we are seeking to develop across the world, he said. In his presidential address,

Minister for Fisheries S. Sarma, who is also the Chairman of Smart City Kochi, said that the project would provide the Malayalis who had proved their skills in the global IT arena to work in their home State.

The project will be set up with an investment of $ 350 million and will have a built up space of 8.8 million sq.ft.

Ministers C. Divakaran, N.K. Premachandran and Mons Joseph and MLA K. Babu offered felicitations. Jazia Mohammed, Marketing Director, TECOM, was present. MLAs, MPs and local-self government heads and officials also participated.

Chief Secretary P.J. Thomas welcomed the gathering and District Collector A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish proposed a vote of thanks.

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