Singapore based Jurong Consultants has submitted the master plan for the second IT hub in Bhubaneswar, Infovalley, coming up on the outskirts of city on 600 acres of land.
Jurong made a presentation on the master plan on Monday before Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco), the co-developer of the project. Officials of various other government departments such as housing and urban development, IT (information technology), works and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) were also present at the meeting.
"We made a presentation to the chairman-cum-managing director, Idco yesterday. The master plan has been submitted to Idco. After incorporating the comments made during the presentation the plan will be updated and submitted in 1-2 months", said a Jurong official.
"If our proposal materializes, it (Infovalley) will be most iconic IT destination in the whole of Odisha", he added.
The government officials have stressed on effective utilization of land, more open spaces, among others. Jurong is believed to be taking steps for linking the IT companies for investments in the state.
The Infovalley is being jointly developed by Idco and IT major, Infosys, which has been allotted 50 acres of land in the proposed IT park to set up its second campus in the city.
The project is expected to create direct and indirect employment for 600,000 people and generate Rs 1,500 crore revenue in the first three years of operation.
An electronics manufacturing cluster (EMC) would also come up at Infovalley. The EMC would house over 100 electronics manufacturing units.
The cluster is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 207 crore with Rs 97 crore grant from the Centre. It is expected to draw investment of Rs 979 crore through establishment of individual units, machinery and park infrastructure. The EMC would generate 10,000 to 12,000 jobs, both skilled and semi-skilled.
In the meantime, Idco has missed the deadline to submit the detailed project report for getting the final approval for the EMC.
"As the approval process is tedious, we have sought two months extension from the Centre and it has been allowed", said an official.
In addition to Centre's grant of Rs 97 crore, Idco will contribute Rs 40 crore , while Odisha Computer Application Centre will pay Rs 25 crore and the private investors Rs 13 crore for the development of common and external infrastructure for the EMC.
