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Stone laid for Cyber City

— PHOTO: Vipin Chandran

ATTRACTING INVESTMENT: The Industries Minister, Elamaram Karim (left), Fisherines Minister S. Sarma (centre) and Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan, Chairman of HDIL at the foundation laying ceremony of HDIL Cyber City at Kalamassery.

KOCHI: Industries Minister Elamaram Karim has said that Kerala is passing through a rapid pace of development. While the State is keen to attract private investment, the government will ensure that investors comply with the rules and regulations.

He urged the people and the media to adopt an attitude compatible with the development process and not to torpedo the efforts through baseless, adverse statements.

He was laying the foundation for the HDIL Cyber City, an IT project in the private sector, at Kalamasserry on Saturday.

Mr.Karim said several notable projects were initiated by the government recently. These included the Smart City and the joint venture of TELK and the NTPC. Production units of Defence and the Railways were set to commence operation in Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha respectively.

The Sobha Hitech city was another important project to come up in Kochi. The government was also planning to set up an integrated township with Malaysian collaboration at Kozhikode.

The Cyber City project was being taken up by Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited in 70 acres purchased from HMT by Blue Star Realtors Private Limited, a subsidiary of HDIL, in open bid.

“The project, estimated to cost Rs. 4000 crore, will have 7.9 million square ft of built-up area.

It will create about 60,000 jobs directly and about 1,50,000 jobs indirectly,” according to company Chairman Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan.

The company would make use of environment-friendly technology for desalination, he said. Apart from IT ventures, there would be shopping malls, schools, club houses, residential structures and world class hotels, he said.

Fisheries Minister S.Sarma said the project would utilise 70 per cent of the constructed area for IT and ITeS purposes.

The condition would have to be fulfilled for final approval and there should not be any scope for apprehensions in this regard. The government would examine the allegations raised by a few against the project.

Kochi was making strides in development, he said. The Vallarpadam container terminal, LNG terminal and the Metro Rail project were among the prestigious projects under way.

K.V. Thomas, A.M. Yousuf, V.K. Ibrahim Kunju, Saju Paul, Babu Paul, MLAs, K. Chandran Pillai, MP, and V.M. Arifa, Municipal Chairperson, Kalamasserry, were among those present.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran, who were scheduled to address the gathering, did not arrive for the function.

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