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Work on IT parks in Alappuzha to begin by December

ALAPPUZHA: A high-level team led by State Information Technology Secretary Ajay Kumar visited sites for the two proposed IT parks in the district here on Saturday and has indicated that the work on both projects would begin by December.

The team, which reached Alappuzha after visiting similar sites in Kollam, inspected the 100-acre site at Purakad near Ambalapuzha and the 65-acre site at the Industrial Growth Centre, Pallipuram, near Cherthala.

According to Mr. Kumar, the visit was meant to get a “physical idea” of the sites. He told The Hindu that the applications for obtaining the approval for these sites to be treated as Special Economic Zones from the Centre have already been forwarded to New Delhi.

“The preparations are moving really fast, considering that we got approval for these parks just two weeks back.

“A consultant to prepare the master plan for both parks will be identified within two months, after which the master-plan might take another three months. By then, the SEZ approval from the Centre is also expected. Work on the parks should begin by the end of December,” he said.

The 100-acre site at Purakad, which was acquired from the 600-acre site earmarked for the Gandhi Smrithivanam, would be developed as a township with residential and recreational facilities. Mr. Kumar said the estimated investment for the IT parks in Purakad and Cherthala will be to the tune of Rs.1,000 crore and Rs.500-750 crore, respectively.

The State government would make an initial investment of Rs.100 crore in both parks.

In the first phase, each park is projected to generate employment opportunities for around 15,000 persons.

The parks will be known as Info Park, Alappuzha and Info Park, Cherthala, and will be treated as extensions of Kochi Info Park.

Mr. Kumar said though the government was yet to launch any specific marketing campaign for the parks, the response was already “tremendous”, particularly for the Cherthala Park.

“Once the SEZ approval is obtained, we are sure the response will be on a much higher scale,” he said.

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