Kerala Cabinet approves Kochi SmartCity treaty

The much-awaited yet delayed Smart City project is all set to to take off in Kochi.

The main hurdles which had been holding up the work on Kerala’s dream project for about four years were thrashed out by the state government and Tecom Investments officials here on Wednesday morning.

This followed talks held here between Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and Ahmed Humaid Al Tayar, governor of Dubai International Financial Centre.

Achuthanandan said that Tecom would be given freehold right on 12 per cent land but within the 246 acres which has been notified as special economic zone. This would mean that the promoters will not have the right to sell the land. Tecom’s insistence on getting the 12 per cent freehold land outside the 246 acres was the main object of disagreement between the two sides for the last three years.

It was the mediatory role played by NRI businessman M A Yusuffali that paved the way for the deal which was being projected by the Opposition UDF as a mascot of the LDF government’s inefficiency.

Addressing reporters after an hour-long meeting with the Dubai government team here, the chief minister said all the issues have been sorted out and the project which is expected to put the state on the software map was going to be a reality.

The registration of the project would be done within a week, the masterplan would be submitted within a month and work would begin in three months, according to the Dubai government representative. The deal was later ratified by the state cabinet.