By IANS,
Chandigarh : The Punjab government has engaged a consortium, Ernst & Young-Halcrow, to prepare the master plan of the IT city project coming up near Rajpura town, 50 km from here.
Announcing this here Thursday, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said: “We need to promote the IT sector. It will help Punjab compete globally and also create job opportunities for youth in the state.”
The Rs.1,200 crore (Rs.12 billion) “Global Industrial and Knowledge City” project is being set up by the government-owned Punjab Information and Communication Technology Corporation Ltd (Punjab Infotech).
Rakesh Verma, managing director of Punjab Infotech said 1,359.5 acres for the IT city had been identified and Rs.150 crore (Rs.1.5 billion) had been earmarked to acquire the land.
Badal also gave approval to Punjab Infotech for arranging short-term loan of Rs.133 crore (Rs.1.33 billion) from banks.
He asked the state power distribution agency to ensure uninterrupted and dedicated power supply to the IT city project.