HDIL Cyber City Foundation laid in Kochi

Kerala Industry Minister Elamaram Kareem laid the foundation stone for the Rs 40-bn ‘Housing Development Infrastructure Limited Cyber City’ here yesterday even as Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan (pictured) kept off the occasion of the “most important” private sector investment in the state.

Much is being read into the absence of the chief minister, especially in the wake of the allegation that Hindustan Machine Tools did not have the mandate to sell “lease-held” land to another party.

However, district collector Mohammed Haneesh clarified that HMT had full right on the land since it hadn’t been a leasehold property. The State Government had given 100 acres unconditionally to the central PSU in 2000.

Brushing aside innuendos, Kareem said the project aimed at generating 60,000 direct and 150,000 indirect employment opportunities in the IT/ITES sectors.

He was upbeat, citing the raft of investments coming to the state, so far a laggard among the rest of the Indian States. Among projects on the anvil are Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority’s SmartCity, Shobha Hi-Tech City, both in Kochi, and an integrated industrial complex to be set up by Malaysian company SIDP, in Kozhikode.

Thiruvananthapuram-based Kerala Hi-Tech Industries Ltd (KELTEC) had been taken over by BRAHMOS, which would facilitate the first defence production unit in Kerala. Another important development was the Petronet LNG Terminal project, which would be completed by 2011, providing the much-needed supplies for domestic and industrial use.

HDIL Chairman Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan said the Cyber City would be Kerala’s first integrated IT township, comprising IT/ITES companies, residential apartments and villas, schools, shopping malls, a multiplex, a club house, serviced apartments and a star hotel.

Kochi has been ranked as the second most favoured IT/ITES destination by National Association of Software and Service Companies. Top IT companies from the country and abroad planned to set up offices at Kochi here in the next three to five years.

Besides generating employment for the local youth, the project would yield more than Rs4.25bn for the state government by way of stamp and registration duty and employee welfare and village tax.

Wadhawan said a German desalination water plant and power backup systems would be put up as part of the cyber city. “We do not want Kochi to go the Bangalore way, where the original city and culture have been virtually killed by the IT industry,” he said.

HDIL director Ashok Gupta said 70 per cent of the cyber city would be earmarked for IT/ITES, while the balance would be used for other purposes. HDIL is one of the largest real estate development companies in India with a market capitalisation of nearly Rs250bn ($5bn).

Photo courtesy:hindu.com
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