THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Technocity, the most-ambitious IT project of the State, will be launched on June 4 by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan.
This was announced jointly by Mervin Alexander, Technopark CEO, Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Kochi Infopark CEO and Binu Pazhoor, Kozhikode Cyberpark CEO at a press conference held here on Saturday.
Mervin Alexander said that the project was being developed in a phased manner and that the first major phase would be completed in a period of three years. “We have already completed the formalities pertaining to the acquisition of 451 acres of land required for the project. We are now working on developing basic infrastructure such as power supply, water and construction of approach roads,’’ he said.
Branded as the fourth phase of Technopark, the concept of Technocity was envisaged in 2005 to establish an integrated township at Pallipuram, 5 km north of the main campus of Technopark. Technocity is proposed to have educational, medical, commercial and hospitality facilities and infrastructure facilities for IT companies without straining the resources and infrastructure of Thiruvananthapuram city.
Once fully operational, Technocity will cover an area of 10-15 million square feet generating around one lakh direct jobs and employing 4 lakh people indirectly. Mervin Alexander said that a total of 93 families had been evacuated for the land acquisition and that all had been compensated with attractive packages. Binu Pazhoor hailed the concept of Technocity as a wonderful endeavour and said that the completion of the project would create a conducive environment in Kerala much needed for the boost of IT sector after the slump the industry had suffered during recession.
"This can be regarded as the most ideal thing to do for tomorrow. Technocity has every potential to attract huge investments as well as create a lot of job opportunities,’’ he said.
Mervin Alexander said that the infrastructure development of the project was being done with financial assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency [JICA].
The expense for land acquisition is being funded by a consortium of banks led by Central Bank of India.