Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan today firmly told the Dubai-based promoters of the proposed SmartCity IT project that his government would not hand over even “an inch of land” to them with the right to sell.
“If the promoters of SmartCity (Dubai-based Tecom) cannot agree with the stand of the government, we will have to think of other suitable ways for implementing the project,” Achuthanandan said.
Speaking after inaugurating the second phase expansion of InfoPark here, the chief minister said, “The government has taken a firm stand that it will not hand over even an inch of the land with the right to sell it to SmartCity”.
The SmartCity IT project had not gone ahead as originally planned and the government’s stand has been clearly conveyed to Tecom, he said, and asserted that even if there was some delay, a mega IT park would be made a reality by safeguarding the interest of the state at the very SmartCity site.
The SmartCity project was revived by the LDF government after incorporating some changes in the original agreement reached between the then UDF government and Tecom as it was against the state’s interests, he said.
The chief minister also said that Tecom’s insistence on some exemption extraneous to the agreement is the cause for the delay.
Though the foundation stone for the project, a joint venture between Tecom and the state government, was laid two years ago, no construction activity has taken place till now. The project ran into trouble after disputes over the extent of free hold of land arose between the developers and the state.
In a recent statement issued in Dubai, SmartCity chief executive Fareed Abdulrahman had said if the chief minister had any doubts about the financial position of the company and its commitment to the project he could visit its campuses in Dubai.
