Stone laid
for Smart City project
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.
90,000 jobs
The project was a fine example of public-private participation, he said. It
would create about 90,000 jobs.
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 Abdul Rahman, 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.
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.
“We should not be content with arrival of the
project, but should be able to develop the skills so
that the opportunities opened up by it are fully utilised,”
he said.
He urged the educational institutions to take the initiative
to train the students accordingly.
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