SmartCity Kochi authorities are yet to respond to the proposals of a core committee

SmartCity Kochi authorities are yet to respond to the proposals of a core committee formed to look into the hurdles in the progress of the proposed project.

“We have already forwarded the proposals to the State government. It is now for the project development team of SmartCity Kochi to study the recommendations and submit a proposal to the company authorities for approval,” said District Collector M. Beena. This, she said, was not happening at a great speed at the moment.

A core committee with district collector as chairperson was formed to recommend solutions to the twin problems - the relocation of a Public Works Department (PWD) road and that of the installations of the electricity department – on the 100 acres of the project area.

She said that a State-level meeting is on the anvil to follow up on the proposals of the core committee. The discussion is expected to take place on Monday on the sidelines of a meeting to discuss the land acquisition for the second phase expansion of Infopark.

Unless a final decision was reached on these two issues, the promoters would not be able to approach the Board of Approval for SEZs of the Union government seeking SEZ status for 100 acres involved. Meanwhile there are reports that Fareed Abdulrahman, the chief executive officer of SmartCity Kochi, might visit the city in the next few days. In that case, efforts would be made to broach the issues with him.

At its first meeting held on October 18, the core committee had recommended the SmartCity Kochi authorities to relocate the PWD road on its own citing the procedural delay if it were to be undertaken on a cost sharing basis with the government.

Since the company was a direct beneficiary of the road, it had an equal interest in the quality of the relocated road.

The committee had also approved the estimate of Rs. 2 crore placed before it by the PWD for the relocation of the road. SmartCity Kochi agreed to share the cost of reconstructing the dormitory complex and relocating the air quality monitoring station of the electricity department. However, the percentage of cost sharing between the stakeholders was yet to be decided. The committee’s recommendation to the company was to reconstruct the dormitory on its own to avert any procedural delay. While SmartCity disagreed over the estimate of Rs. 1.04 crore presented by the electricity department for the reconstruction of the dormitory complex, it accepted the estimate of Rs. 3.40 lakh for the relocation of air quality monitoring station.

However, all these proposals of the committee were subject to the approval of the director board of the SmartCity Kochi.

Source