A meeting of the board of directors of Infopark has given its approval to the development of the proposed second phase of Infopark. The development would be spread over 160 acres of land in Kunnathunadu and Puthencruz villages of Ernakulam district.
T Balakrishnan, additional chief secretary in charge of the Information Technologies, Industries and Commerce, presided over the meeting. Alkesh Sharma, managing director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, S Ramnath, managing director of Kerala Infrastructure Development Corporation, and Gigo Joseph, CEO, Inforpark, attended the meeting.
“The approval would enable Infopark to set up a sector-specific IT and ITeS SEZ as part of its second phase expansion,” said Gigo Joseph. When executed fully, the second phase will generate about 80,000 jobs.
The acquisition of 130 acres of land out of the 160 acres indentified has already been completed, while the remaining 30 acres would be acquired soon. The idea is to complete the expansion in three phases. A BPO complex, software development block and a convention centre would be set up initially.
The total development area of the second phase would measure up to 8 million sft and the total cost is estimated to be Rs 2,500 crore of which Infopark would invest Rs 475 crore in three years. A Kochi-based construction company has been entrusted with the land development works.