By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will launch on June 4 the Rs.5,000-crore Technocity project, the state’s biggest IT city, that will come up on a 450-acre plot near the Technopark campus.
Technopark Chief Executive Mervin Alexander told reporters here Saturday that the project had been conceived as an integrated township encompassing IT/ITES infrastructure, residential apartments, shopping malls, hospitals, hotels and educational facilities.
“The first phase of the project would be open in July 2012 and we expect to complete the entire project seven years from now. And when finally complete, a record one lakh jobs would be created, besides four lakh indirect jobs,” said Alexander.
The project will be executed on the public-private participation (PPP) model. The state government’s contribution is the cost of the land it has acquired by paying Rs.340 crore.
“Technopark has applied to the Japan International Cooperation Agency for a Rs.170 crore-loan for developing the infrastructure of the Technocity. We will be providing the basic amenities like power, water and roads inside the campus,” said Alexander.
The roadmap for developing the project would soon be ready as several developers have shown interest.
“It could be a single developer, which we would prefer, or there could be many developers. The blueprint is ready and it clearly sets out that only 30 percent of the total space would be kept for building apartments and other facilities, while 70 percent would be kept for IT, biotechnology, nanotechnology, high-end manufacturers and also R&D companies,” said Alexander.