After a long wait, a full-fledged office for the Smart City headed by a CEO will come up in Kochi within two months.
A meeting of the Board of Directors of Smart City Kochi (SCK) held in Dubai on Tuesday also decided to begin the construction work for the project within six months.
The project will be directly under Abdullatheef Al Mulla, business development director of Dubai Holdings.
“All hurdles have been overcome and the project is now on. The CEO of Smart City Kochi will act as a link between the state government and Tecom. The master plan will be finalised at a workshop in Kochi on January 31,” Industries Minister P K Kunhalikkutty told reporters after the board meeting.
Headed by a CEO and comprising human resource, legal and construction sections, the SCK team will be formed within three months.
According to the Minister, many parties were interested in investment in the SCK project.
“This project is clearly important and viable for both the parties. The project will be launched very soon. The master plan is ready. But we need to tweak it a bit to ensure that it has all major components to address environmental and societal concerns,” said Abdullatheef Al Mulla.
Another crucial meeting to take place is that of the Union Commerce Ministry’s Board of Approval of Special Economic Zones, slated on Friday.
A final call on SCK’s demand to notify the entire project area of 246 acres as a single SEZ is likely to be taken during the meeting.
While 132 acres of land has been notified as SEZ, the rest is yet to be notified.
“It is in the agenda of the meeting and we expect a favourable decision,” said P H Kurian, Principal Secretary (Information Technology).
The office will be constructed on 5 lakh sq feet property, while 50 acres of the land will be developed along with some co-developers.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had a telephonic conversation with Ahmad Bin Byat, CEO of Dubai Holdings, the parent company of Tecom which conceptualised SCK, during the meeting of the Board of Directors.
Norka vice-chairman M A Yousafali attended the meeting as a special invitee.