The work on the next 250,000 sft Tower–II has been progressing well and INKEL has decided to construct two more towers of 250,000 sft each. The overall plan was to create a fully-integrated business park of 2.5 million sft, said the company.
INKEL is a PPP initiative bringing together government agencies and prominent global investors and NRI industrialists and businessmen. The state government currently holds 32 per cent share in INKEL.
More From This Section
The 30-acre land at Angamaly in Ernakulam district was handed over by the state government in 2010 on a 90-year lease to INKID, a joint venture company of INKEL and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) at Rs 1 crore per acre, which includes registration and stamp duty.
“We have so far invested Rs 100 crore for developing the land, and the remaining capital would be pumped in for constructing the rest of the towers and allied infrastructure,” said INKEL managing director T Balakrishnan.
Adding the company had been witnessing good response from business for the built-up space.
Though land cost has been high compared to the Smart City project where the government handed over 246 acres in 2011 for Rs 43 lakh an acre on a 99-year lease in the nerve centre of IT near Infopark, INKEL has managed to provide the space having specifications comparable to IT building at a much lower rental of Rs 18 per sft per month and Rs 1,900 per sft for long lease.
This was made possible by adopting professional and innovative practices in construction management so as to keep the cost lower to support investors who wanted to start their operations in Kerala, while not compromising on quality and infrastructure facilities. Plans are also underway to offer development of the remaining towers to private investors on a joint venture mode, Balakrishnan said.