Opposition leader blames government for Smartcity Kochi delay

Kerala Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly Oommen Chandy criticized the statement by chief minister V S Achuthanandan that global recession was the reason for the delay in implementing the Smartcity IT project by Dubai based TECOM promoters.

Achuthanandan was 'attempting to cover up the failures' of the government and main reason for the dealy was government's inability to take decisions on conditions stipulated on the project agreement entered with TECOM, Chandy told reporters here.

Chandy said there was no recession when the agreement was singed two-years back. Prolonged delay on the part of the government to resolve the issues have adversely affected the progress of the park at Kochi with an estimated investment of Rs 3500 crores, he said.

Achuthanandan had stated yesterday that promoters of the Smartcity were making 'certain undeserving demands' on the state government as the economic recession had affected them.

The growth of IT industry in Kerala was 45 per cent in 2008-09 against the national growth average of 17%, the chief minister said.

Meanwhile, the general body meeting of The Technopark and Infopark wash held here yesterday and approved annual budgets of Rs 650 crore and Rs 250 crore

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