Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy today said there was no question of giving up the Smart City project in Kochi sponsored by Dubai Internet City (DIC)."The government will go ahead with the plan as such projects are essential for the state to make a big leap in the IT sector," Chandy replied when asked about reservations expressed by opposition leader V S Achuthanandan about the project.Despite its inherent strength and the presence of world class facilities like Technopark, IT exports from kerala stood at a meagre Rs 300 crore, which was far below that of Karnataka, he said.Referring to Achuthanandan's allegation that the agreement being worked out by the government heavily favoured DIC at the cost of the state's interests, Chandy said the government had ensured that the state's interests would not suffer.He said there was no truth in reports that the deal contains a clause by which the government would guarantee that other IT parks posing competition to smart city would not be allowed to come up in the area between Alappuzha and Kozhikode.Though DIC wanted that to be part of the agreement, the government had made it clear that it was not acceptable as private entrepreneurs would be free to set up their companies. At the same time, the government would not be a party to 'unhealthy competition' in IT sector, he added.
