Kerala - Kochi   

SmartCity stalemate deepens

—Photo: H. Vibhu

In limbo: A view from Edachira where the SmartCity project is proposed to come up.

KOCHI: The stalemate over the proposed SmartCity Kochi project has further deepened with the State cabinet on Thursday approving a letter to be sent to the Dubai-based promoters of the project asking them to launch the project without any further delay.

The letter, reported to be of the nature of an ‘ultimatum', would state that the State government would consider the agreement entered into with SmartCity as cancelled if the company did not respond within 15 days from the date of receipt of the letter.

Reacting to the latest development, Chief Executive Officer of SmartCity Fareed Abdulrahman has said in Dubai that the company would respond once it received the letter and evaluated its content.

It is learned that since SmartCity firmly believes that it is on a firm ground legally, it would take this letter from the government as a mere continuation of the communication that has been going on between the two sides since June.

On June 28, the State government had sent a letter ahead of the meeting of the board of directors asking the company to start the project without delay, and to respond to it in two weeks.

SmartCity had then replied to the letter stating that as per the agreement, facilitating the land and registering it in the name of the SmartCity Infrastructure Private Limited, a company registered under the Indian Companies Act, was the responsibility of the State government and, without it, no construction work could be started.

The company believes that the letter which the State government now proposes to send is likely to be a response to this reply it had sent on June 30.

Mr. Abdulrahman, in one of his post-board meeting press conferences, had said that the company was prepared for a legal battle if things ever come to such a passé. The company, however, wants to explore all other possibilities.

The project had been in a limbo since March 2008 when the issue of right of freehold on 12 per cent land to promoters propped up. Though several meetings of the board of directors were held since then, they proved futile.

After the last board meeting Mr. Abdulrahman had said that company was still open to discussions with the State government to resolve the pending issues that had withheld the proposed project provided it produced results.

He, however, said that he would rather stay away from a meeting than attending it if it were unlikely to produce any result.

He said that he was fed up of attending a lot of futile meetings over the original framework agreement.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

High Court declines to stay directive on lottery
KC (Thomas) plans Raj Bhavan march
Dalai Lama to open IARF congress
Plea to implement commission report
Kochi, Norfolk ink sister city pact
Customs to set right online filing system
SmartCity stalemate deepens
Lensman assaulted
Medical team examines workers
Plan to train 1,000 anti-liquor volunteers
Call to ensure motorable roads to Goshree Islands
New scheme from KSEB
Initiatives to boost coconut farming
SAT headquarters: hearing adjourned
In Kochi Today

Copyright © 2010, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu