Developing 1,000 acres, 50 million sq ft for IT related industries
Manoj Xavier
Kochi: Kerala, which lost the IT race to its neighbouring States despite having launched the first dedicated facility for the sunrise industry in the nineties, is fast making up for the loss. The state is vigorously chasing the IT dream, developing more than 1,000 acres, and building more than 50 million sq ft of space for IT and related industries.
Thiruvananthapuram, which started off the IT boom, has two major projects coming up. Technocity, the fourth phase of government-promoted Technopark, is being developed on 450 acres and seeks to build 30 million sq ft of built up space at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore. DownTown Technopark, a venture of Boston-based Taurus Investment Holdings, an international real estate private equity investment company, is building a 3.2 million sq ft facility on 20 acres on an investment of Rs 1,200 crore.
In Kochi, the Smart City project which had been hanging fire for almost a decade, has now got off and the first building of 6 lakh sqft is expected to be completed in 2015. The project, promoted by Dubai Holdings, is spread over 246 acres, and, when completed in 2020, will have a built up space of 8.8 million sq ft. Infopark, the government-owned IT infrastructure builder, is developing its second phase on 160 acres and will add another 8 million sq ft of office space. The Lulu Cyber Tower 2, launched on Thursday, will have 1.4 million sq ft of space for the IT and related industries.
Cyber Park, the government-promoted major infrastructure venture in Kozhikode, is building 7.8 lakh sq ft on 30 acres in two phases. It will also offer developed land for companies. UL Cyber Park, promoted by the worker cooperative ULCCS, has completed the first phase of its planned 3 million sq ft on 27 acres. The other projects are at various stages are in Cherthala in Alappuzha district (66 acres), Koratty in Thrissur district (30 acres) and Kannur (30 acres).
“The demand for built-up space is very high, and going by the trend, we will be able to sell every inch of it,” said Hrishikesh Nair, chief executive officer of Infopark, Kochi. “However, companies are unwilling to invest in land because of the high costs.” Mr Ajith Raghav, CEO of Cyberpark, Kozhikode, says the 12-15 per cent growth in the domestic IT industry will generate the demand for the projects.
( Source : dc )
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