KOCHI: The Kerala IT has floated a global Request For Proposals (RFPs) from reputed master planners of IT parks for preparing a master plan for Kochi Infopark’s phase-II development, with a total built-up space of about 8 million square feet.
In its pursuit of becoming a leading IT/ITES destination in the country, the Kerala IT had announced the second phase of expansion of the Infopark last year on 160 acres of land in Kunnathunadu and Puthencruz villages.
Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan had laid the foundation stone for the new building on November 28, 2009.
The spokes of the Kochi Infopark at Koratty, Cherthala and Ambalapuzha were inaugurated along with the ramp-up of the project’s co-developers, including L&T, Leela Group, and Brigade.
With the development of phase- II of the Infopark, growth of IT will be fuelled by capitalising the advantages that Kerala IT has to offer with its robust infrastructure and connectivity.
The park will be operational by December 2011 and will house domestic parks as well as Special Economic Zones for IT/ITES.
The domestic park in the new phase is aimed at creating costeffective infrastructure for the BPO industry. The state government has allotted Rs 50 crore towards infrastructure development schemes for the second phase.
“We are inviting RFPs from consultants of international repute to build phase-II of the Infopark as a facility on a par with any facility globally. Like the previous projects, the Infopark will act as a single-point developer of basic infrastructure facilities such as sub-station, power distribution, internal road system, water intake, treatment and storage, data and communication connectivity, land development, compound wall, guest house and common food courts,” Infopark CE O Siddhartha Bhattacharya said. “We also want the consultants to think of utilising this location to simultaneously promote Green IT. The plan is to develop the campus to tap into emerging high-growth areas like data centres, domestic services as well as renewable areas and the campus design will reflect high efficiency and employee- friendly amenities,” he said.
Once fully operational, it is expected that the park will generate around 80,000 jobs in the IT/ITES/ BPO sector, apart from the large number of jobs expected to be created in the services sector.
The phase-II expansion has already generated a great deal of interest among large cross sections of the IT industry. “We will leverage the current growth of Infopark and tap Kochi’s untapped potential to generate differentiated value for the companies that will set shop in Infopark Phase-II,” IT Principal Secretary Ajay Kumar said.