Poll outcome may decide the fate of Smart City project

KERALA ASSEMBLY POLL 2006

The Rs 1,500 crore Kochi Smart City deal? Or 33,300 IT jobs for an employment-starved state? Or a 300 acre land scam engineered by the Congress-led government in Kerala?

It could be any of the above or all of the above. Jobs or no jobs, the deal proposed by the Oommen Chandy government with a company called Dubai Internet City (DIC) promising 33,300 infotech jobs in 10 years, is today what divides the Left Democratic Front (LDF) from the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) and further divides the LDF within itself. While it tops the UDF manifesto, the LDF manifesto is silent on the matter, reflecting its opposition to the deal.

And the future of Smart City, to be located in Kakkanad, a Kochi suburb, depends on the outcome of the Assembly polls.

YourSmartCity.com, a website started by supporters of the project, makes no bones about this. "If you want Smart City, vote for the UDF," it says. Supporters and critics clash in its discussion forum reflecting the political debates the issue has triggered since the first negotiations early last year.

The most derided person on the site is VS Achuthananthan, 84-year-old CPI(M) leader, who has opposed the deal terming it a real estate swindle by the government that has agreed to hand over 300 acres of land (100 acres free of cost) including an existing IT park to DIC in return for jobs and the hope that the company will turn Kochi into a cybercity like Bangalore.

Says Tony John, an IT professional based in Houston (US), who manages the discussion forum of the site: "The real estate it (LDF) is talking about is a useless piece of land that no one wanted till the deal was inked. We have to consider the jobs it will create and that thousands of people can return to Kerala from other states and countries and live with their families."

He says nine others like him working in the IT industry in other states and countries started the site. It is clear that the project's future will depend on who comes to power next, he says.

For a site dedicated to Smart City, there is criticism galore of the proposed deal with visitors at the discussion forum charging that the "government misled the people that the deal was with the Dubai government and an IT firm. In fact, it was to be a tie-up with a real estate giant". Besides, there is no justification for the miracle figure of 33,300 jobs promised by the government, they point out.

Another visitor who claims to be an IT professional says: "We cannot stand a party to sell off our land (sic). If this is for us, we do not need this".

Achuthananthan is ridiculed by some as a leader who will accept Smart City so long as it has trade unions and Malayalam software, while many others point out that he has the integrity to take a stand right unlike his opponent in the party, Pinarayi Vijayan, who began supporting it after opposing it first.

While CPI(M) leaders shy away from the topic, CK Chandrappan (LDF) said the LDF manifesto might be silent on Smart City project but had promised IT development in abundance. "Whoever comes to power will have to look at Smart City afresh as too many questions have been raised against it and the negotiations have been dubious," he says.

"The LDF is not anti-IT. The biggest IT investment in Kerala in the form of Techno Park in Thiruvananthapuran was set up by the LDF government," he points out.

As for the stand taken by Achuthananthan, he says there are problems with the terms of pact between the government and the DIC, which is only an infrastructure development firm and need not be given land free or at concessional rates.