Smart City gets new breather

LDF govt to sign final agreement with DIC soon

The Smart City project proposed to be set up in Kochi has got a fresh lease of life. The prestigious project faced uncertainty after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government came to power.

Putting all doubts to rest, chief minister V S Achuthanandan said that his government was keen on implementing the project.

The final agreement between the state government and Dubai Internet City (DIC) on the Rs 1,500-crore Smart City project is expected in one- and-a-half months. The officials of DIC, the company which is to set up the Smart City, met the chief minister and held discussions in this regard.

The two parties would now undertake a feasibility study of five models that came up at the discussions held a day before the officials had met the chief minister. The progress will be reviewed after two weeks.

Now with the chief minister assuring the DIC team that the government was keen on seeing the project successfully implemented, the uncertainty over the project is as good as over.

The government would work on a draft of the project and forward it to DIC before the end of September.

Among the five project models to be studied, two contain options to include the Infopark at Kochi also as part of the Smart City , it is learnt. According to the chief minister, the Dubai firm would have to pay the market price for the land to be allotted to it for the project.

It may be recalled that the Oommen Chandy government, which was in power earlier, had inked a memorandum of understanding and agreed to hand over two buildings of Info park having a total area of around 200,000 square feet and surrounding 62.27 acres of land free of cost to DIC.

However, LDF, which was in opposition at that time, opposed the project tooth and nail on the ground that the deal was not in the state's interests.

The present government also rejected the DIC's condition that no similar projects either in the private or public sectors should be allowed in Ernakulam district. Clearing all the hurdles to the project, the Dubai firm has agreed to waive the condition.

However, as a kind of quid pro quo, DIC has demanded roads, buildings and other basic amenities at the site and a special status akin to SEZ for the Smart City.

The government will study the proposals in detail, prepare a draft model of the project and intimate its decision to DIC within a couple of weeks. The chief minister said that on the basis of the revised model it was expected that a fresh MoU could be signed within six weeks.

It is learnt that the government wants to develop the project as a joint venture so that it will have a clear say in the functioning of the important IT project of the state. But, DIC's stand on a JV is not yet clear.

As per the earlier MoU, the government had agreed to hand over Infopark, in which it invested around Rs 70 crore, to DIC and an additional 100 acres of land free of cost in return for a 9 per cent stake in the project. This kicked up a storm in the state resulting in the Oommen Chandy government withdrawing from the project.

Achuthanandan who was the opposition leader then had vehemently criticised the UDF government for signing a 'real estate deal' favouring the Dubai firm and sacrificing state's interests.

Defending his position, Oommen Chandy said the government had to agree to the conditions as others states like Andhra Pradesh were wooing DIC with all facilities.