Visakhapatnam: Yet again Vuda had landed in a foot in the mouth kind of situation. At a time when Vuda was getting ready to call tenders for the IT incubation centre it planned in collaboration with Soft-ware Technologies Park India Ltd (STPI) in the city, the union ministry of IT & Communications had red flagged it stating the construction can only be taken up by Central Public Works Department (CPWD) a union government agency.
Vuda, which offered its land worth '17 crore free of cost to build the Incubation Centre had to communicate to the IT ministry that they can’t go ahead with the project if they are not the executing agency. Due to the issue raised out of this calling tenders has been inordinately delayed as it was in February that Vuda and STPI signed MoU on the project. “Why will the Vuda partner with STPI by giving the land free of cost if we are not executing the works which we have communicated it to the STPI? Recently heard the STPI had got the permission to go ahead with Vuda. It is learnt that generally such central government works are executed by CPWD,” said a Vuda official.
Interestingly, STPI, without the knowledge that such works need to be taken up CPWD, has sig-ned the MoU with Vuda. The project had already been delayed by a few months due to a high-level intervention from powers that be of the district, into the already approved design of the building. Vuda and STPI representatives signed the MoU in the presence of Union IT and telecommunications minister Ravishankar Prasad, during his visit to the city on February 18.
The proposed facility is a domain specific innovation and incubation centre on IT/ITeS in marine, petroleum, and power. It has been more than three years that the Centre had given the administrative nod for the STPI incubation centre, released required funds of Rs 16 crore, but the state government has failed to allot land for the proposed IT Incubation and Innovation centre in the city with plug and play facilities.
It was only in the beginning of the year that all the issues have been sorted out and the MoU has been signed but, the proposed incubation centre has embroiled into another issue which may again drag the project. “All the pending issues have been sorted out and shortly, we will call the tenders for the construction of the Incubation Centre,” said Vuda additional vice-chairman K. Ramesh.
