Kochi: The first phase of SmartCity Kochi project comprising 6.5 lakh sq ft of built-up space will be launched in the second half of next month.
The facility will be able to accommodate 6,000 professionals in the information technology and IT-enabled services sectors.
SmartCity sources said the work on the first phase is almost completed now. “The final touches are being given now and the work will be over by June-end,” they said.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had in November last announced that the first phase of the project, which was conceived a decade ago but got mired in controversies, will be inaugurated in June.
The SmartCity Board had announced that the second phase of the project would be launched soon after the first phase was commissioned.
The project has got good response from IT companies in India and abroad, the sources said. “More than 50 per cent of the space in the first phase has already been booked by companies,” the sources said.
The SmartCity project is spread on 250 acres and is expected to add to the state’s profile as a major IT destination in the country. Coming up close to the second phase of Infopark, which is spread over 160 acres, the project will also create the social infrastructure for the IT/ITES industry. GEMS Foundation, one of the leading global school chains, has already got the permission to build a school on the campus.
Developers in the government and the private sectors are developing over 1700 acres and constructing over 8 million sq ft of structures in various parts of the state for the IT/ITES industry.
